Crossfire
by redsandman99
Summary: Co-authored with RRatedauthor. One fight between Jeff and Tom makes Jeff go out and get into trouble. James and Mark save him, and Jeff takes a liking to James. James, against his will, starts becoming fixated on Jeff. What will Tom and Mark do about it?
1. Misery Loves Company

**A/N: Hahaha, collaborating is fun! This is redsandman99 and I want to say something real quick. RRatedauthor (who wrote the majority of this first chapter *stops to hand him a cookie*) owns Tom and if you do not know who Tom is, you should probably go to RRatedauthor's profile page and read Blood Brothers by Choice, Superstar for a Day and One is the Loneliest Number because I don't feel like explaining the entire Tom/Jeff history at the moment. And I own James, and if you don't know who he is by now, just look at some of my other stories and you'll find out everything you need to know about my lovely psycho. **

Tom walked through the front door. It had been a hard day at the office and all he really wanted to do was relax in front of the television with a cold beer. Being a district sales rep for the WWE involved a lot of travel and it was not uncommon for Tom to be dead tired when he came home. Hardly a day went by when Tom didn't ask himself why he'd taken this job after he'd blown his knee out in a Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker. That was actually the second question he usually asked himself; the first being why did he agree to the feud with Mark in the first place? It wasn't really based on anything... it wasn't like he'd encased Paul Bearer in Cement or some nonsense like that. But one wrong landing and Tom's career had ended right there.

Thankfully Stephanie had offered him this position. Tom had come to the conclusion that she had done this not out of any sympathy for him, but rather to justify the size of the guaranteed contract Tom had signed just a few months earlier. Barring that injury, Tom should've been wrestling regularly through Wrestlemania XXX.

"Jeffro, I'm home." He shouted, then frowned. Usually his husband of almost a year was waiting for him to return with said cold beer, or if not, at least dinner on the table. This time, there was neither. Not even their surrogate son, Lucas, greeted him. Jeff had agreed to baby-sit while Matt was on a European Tour.

"Anybody?" Tom hung up his sport coat and walked into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, he mumbled under his breath. The complete and total lack of beer was upsetting, but even more so was the fact that there was almost a full case when he'd left that morning. He looked at his watch, brow furrowed, as he tried to figure out just what the hell was going on. No beer, no dinner, no Jeffro. Tom was tempted to step outside and make sure that he'd come to the right house, but he dismissed that as ridiculous, although it did happen once during the haze that was his late teens.

The only thing that even caught Tom's eyes was a can of Pepsi. He hated the stuff with a passion, but since Phil wasn't on speaking terms with Jeff anymore, there was no chance he'd miss it. He popped the top and drank half the can, enjoying the burn as the carbonation hit his throat. Grabbing a bag of Cool Ranch, (At least whoever had taken the beer hadn't touched his chips or there would be pain!) Tom adjourned into the den, planning to relax with either some poker or maybe a baseball game, he didn't particularly care which.

With his hand on the door to the den, Tom heard a faint scratching noise from within. At least he now knew where the dog opened the door and gasped. He know also knew where Jeff was. Passed out on the floor with his friend Shannon, the remnants of Tom's case of beer scattered around. The room reeked of alcohol and sweat and if Tom wasn't mistaken, an undertone of a certain drug he'd also become familiar with during his hazy period.

Pretending that Jeff and Shannon weren't sprawled across the floor, Tom made as much noise as he could in sitting down, opening his chips and turning on the plasma TV he'd just bought Jeff for his thirty-second birthday.

"Thirty-two." He looked down at his husband, his teeth clenching uncontrollably. "I swear, Lucas is more grown up than you are sometimes."

Upon hearing his name, Lucas bounded back into the room and jumped on Tommy's lap. He scratched his ears and Lucas immediately splayed out, exposing his underbelly for a rub.

"At least somebody loves me." Tom continued to pet Lucas while he channel surfed for something to watch. No baseball, no poker, and he sure as hell wasn't going to watch RAW. Since he could no longer compete, he really had no interest in watching the television shows. Fortunately, the Game Show Network was showing an old episode of "Deal or No Deal".

"Damn.. I've only seen this one like a hundred times." Tom yelled

Turning the volume down to almost non-existent levels, he spent the next two hours snacking on chips and splitting his attention between the television and Jeff and Shannon. Finally, an idea came to him.

"Lucas... "

Matt's "son" meandered into the room and made a beeline for Tom, jumping onto his lap and licking his face affectionately. Since receiving temporary custody, Tom had learned that Cool Ranch chips were one of the dog's favorite treats.

"Baby Lucas want a treat?" Tom scratched its ear.

Lucas barked an affirmative.

"Good dog. Now sit." Tom took a couple of the chips and placed them on Jeff's face. "Lucas... treat..." He shook the bag.

Lucas jumped of the couch and went right for the chips on Jeff's face, snapping them up then licking the crumbs off of him.

"No lickies..." Jeff moaned, pushing the dog aside.

"Morning... or should I say evening?" Tom squatted nearby.

"Tommy, you're home early." Jeff stretched. He was shirtless, but Tom had lived with Jeff long enough to know that he liked showing off his sexy body. No pants would've been a problem.

"Early, Jeffers?... it's almost nine o'clock. PM." Tom looked at his watch, his expression hardening.

"Oh." Jeff replied

"Yeah, oh." Tom answered "It looks like you had a bit of a party while I was at work."

"Not really. Shanny came over and we had a couple beers and shot the shit." Jeff shrugged

"A couple? "Tom mentally counted the bottles scattered on the floor. There were twenty-two. "You drank my entire case."

"I'll buy you another one... what's the big deal?" Jeff crawled to his feet.

"What's the big deal?" Tom repeated "What's the big deal??? I'll tell you what the big deal is... I'm working my ass off in a job I really fuckin' hate so the two of us can have a decent life together and you spend your time getting drunk."

"Tommy, I..."

"Jeff, I am really sick of your excuses. I can understand why you left WWE and by the way, if you don't do something about your RLS, I'm going to start kicking you right back, but it's about time you figure out the rest of your life." Tom barked

"Why?" Jeff somehow staggered to his feet. He stood right in front of Tommy, hands on his hips, demanding an answer. When Tom wasn't talking back, Jeff decided to try a different tactic.

"I've busted my ass for over a decade for the WWE. I'm a former three-time heavyweight champion."

"And none of those reigns lasted longer than a month." Tom smirked "Dude, you were bigger than Hogan, the Rock, and Cena together. Fuck Jeffers, the company needed you. Why do you think they re-wrote Night of Champions for you?"

Jeff's mouth opened and closed, but nothing was coming out.

"I'm not gonna do this... I am not gonna stand here and argue with you." Finally, two coherent sentences came out of Jeff's mouth. "Imma go out. C'mon Shanny."

Jeff prodded the Prince of Punk with his toe. Shannon blinked sleepily. "Whassup, Jeff... hiya Tommy."

"Hiya yourself." Tom cringed at Shannon's red eyes.

"We're going out." Jeff announced

"We are? Awesome!" Shannon bounced to his feet.

Tom threw up his hands in a combination of disgust and resignation. "Have fun you two... Lucas, walkies!"

Now with his leash in his hand, Lucas made a return appearance.

"Only smart thing you've done is train that dog to bring his leash." Tom snapped the chain onto the dog's collar and grabbed his shoes. He was out of the door without even a goodbye.

"What the fuck was that about?" Shannon asked

"Tommy's being unreasonable, I guess." Jeff answered

"I have never heard the two of you fight like that before." Shannon said

Jeff squinted. "I thought you were asleep?"

"How's a guy supposed to sleep with the two of you making all that racket? Besides, I woke up the second he turned on the TV." Shannon stretched, his t-shirt riding up to expose his tattooed abdominal muscles. Jeff found himself unintentionally staring at his friend's body.

"Hey. Stop checking me out!" Shannon protested, but did not immediately cover himself.

"Me check you out... I'm the one with no shirt here!"

"Well put one on and we can go." Shannon poked Jeff's chest.

While walking Lucas down the darkening streets of Chicago, Tom thought a lot. After so many months of happiness with Jeff, lately he'd felt like he'd been just going through the motions trying to keep everything balanced. Maybe it was his work ethic, but he really hated slaving to Vince while Jeff stayed at home and drank.

"Well, no sense being an ass about it." Tom scooped Lucas' business and tossed into the nearest garbage can. They were just turning around to go back when Tom spotted Mark across the road, pulling into the parking lot of the nearby biker bar. Outside the ring, Mark was really a nice guy, and both Matt and Jeff liked him, but that did not mean the same for the eldest brother. Tom doubted that they would've been friends even if Mark hadn't ended his career by pulling a spot and whipped Tom into the steel steps, knee-first, during their last match.

Nor did it help that Tom was genuinely creeped out by the man Mark chose to spend his time with, who coincidentally was pulling in beside him. What was his name? Larson... Dawson... something like that, and Tom was in no hurry to get to know him any better, much like most.

Watching the two of them exchange a passionate kiss in the parking lot was just too much.

"C'mon Lucas, let's go home."

Lucas barked agreement.

As he walked home, Tom was once more engrossed in his thoughts, so he missed a familiar red Corvette pulling into the same bar Mark and his companion has just entered. In hindsight, it wouldn't have mattered if he had noticed it, Tom probably could've cared less.

...

"Let's go!" Shannon bounced from foot to foot. Jeff was taking forever to primp in the car's mirror.

"Chill." Jeff said, redoing his hair into a bun for the fifth time. "We got all night and lotsa cash, so just gimme a sec."

"Why here? This ain't our scene." Shannon had checked out the parking lot. Other than their car, there was only one other non-motorcycle. Definitely not their usual hangout.

"Mark told me about this place. He said there were over a hundred beers on tap." Jeff replied

"Lemme guess, you wanna try them all." Shannon giggled

"Dude, you're so fuckin' gay sometimes." Jeff replied, finally satisfied with his appearance.

The bar looked like your typical dive, complete with loud music, dingy lighting, and loud conversation. Just like their car, Jeff and Shannon stood out like nuns at an Anthrax concert. They were the only people who's wardrobe was not at least half black. Even the guy checking ID's gave them a funny look.

Jeff shrugged it off. He was used to it. They squeezed their way between two Khali-sized men and ordered a couple beers. While he drank, Jeff looked around for any familiar faces. He knew Mark often came here and it wouldn't hurt to have at least one person who wasn't looking at him like prey.

"Hey, Dead man!" Jeff waved frantically when he finally located Mark.

Mark looked up from where he was having a very intimate conversation with James.

"Who the fuck are those two" James asked gruffly. "and why are they coming over here?"

Mark squinted, the vibrant colors they wore hurting his old eyes. "They're gonna get themselves killed comin' in here like that!" he thought.

"Coupla guys I used ta work with." Mark answered

"Can't they find their own twink bar instead of hasslin' us?" James' eyes roved over their bodies.

"Shut it, Lawson." Mark growled

"Make me." James retorted

"We agreed there would be no blood play tonight." Mark grabbed James' wrist hard enough to hear the bones crack.

"You agreed there would be no blood play tonight." James corrected him, ignoring the pain going through his arm. "I made no such promises."

Mark and James returned to their drinking in silence. James found himself staring at Jeff more and more frequently, especially once he started dancing. The way his clothes clung to his small frame was enticing and his thoughts starting going places they usually didn't. Even Mark noticed how distracted he was.

"See somethin' ya like?" Mark asked, smugly grinning at him.

"Fuck you, Callaway." James snapped from his haze. "I don't like him at all. You're fucking crazy if you think I do."

"Whatever." Mark emptied the bottle and it joined the rest of the ones on the table. "Lawson, you may think you're all that and a stone cold killer, but you can't lie worth shit..."

James continued to watch Jeff on the dance floor, tuning out the rest of Mark's lecture. Mark leaned back, a fresh beer in his hand, and laughed silently at James' obvious infatuation.

"If you're gonna sit there drooling over him, why don't you invite him to join us for a drink?" Mark snapped his fingers in James' face.

"Do that again and I'll break them." James threatened

"Like you could." Mark replied. He beckoned to Jeff.

Jeff wandered over, obviously buzzed.

"Heya, Markie... howzit goin'?"

"Looks like you're havin' fun." Mark chuckled

"Yeah... too bad Shanny left... he's such a party-pooper." Shannon had taken off, promising to get Jeff's car home.

"Why dontcha join us?" Mark gestured to an empty chair.

"What the hell are you doing... I don't wanna be seen with this twink." James glared at Jeff.

"The hell you don't. " Mark guffawed, smacking James across the back. "You've been making goo-goo eyes at him for the last hour."

James looked at Jeff again. Was the kid actually smiling?

Mark waved for another round of drinks. The three of them drank right through last call, James finding it harder and harder to pay attention to their conversations. Every time he looked into Jeff's emerald eyes his mind took detours and it didn't help that Jeff was staring at him every chance he got. Thank God the bar was closing.

With no more beer forthcoming, Jeff, now completely drunk, stood to leave.

"Guess Iza get home?"

"You better not be drivin'." Mark warned him.

"Naw. 'Sides, Shanny took my car. All gone." Jeff sighed

"Want me to give you a ride somewhere?" Mark offered "Or James can."

James shot daggers across the table.

"'Sokay. Imma walk." Jeff weaved his way through the rest of the drunks and stepped outside. The cool night air cleared his head a little, enough to make him realize he really need to piss.

"Gotta pee. Gotta pee." Jeff chanted, looking for a bush something to go behind. Nothing, except an alley.

"I hope there are no monsters." Jeff ran as far as back as he dared. (And as far back as he could before his bladder exploded!) His call of nature completed, Jeff had just zipped up when he felt a warm breath on his neck.

"Don't bother." A sultry voice said "They'll be coming off real soon."

Jeff gulped. He whirled around and came face to chest with the two big men he'd seen at the bar.

"You're so perdy. Me 'n my friend are gonna have lotsa fun." Both were as drunk as Jeff, if not more so.

"Eeep." Jeff squeaked "L-l-l-look. M-m-my friends are waiting for me. I gotta go." He tried pushing between them but this time, there was no room to get by.

"If he won't cooperate, then we'll just have to mess 'im up a li'l, won't we?" Jeff almost gagged when one of them breathed right into his face.

"Not too much, pardner, we'll need to keep that pretty mouth intact."

They laughed. Jeff panicked and ran at them, hoping to get free. But it was like hitting a stone wall. There was no way he was getting past either of them. He opened his mouth to scream but one of the men put his hand on his mouth.

"Don't do that perdy," the giant purred drunkenly. "You don't want to ruin our fun, now do you?"

That was exactly what Jeff wanted to ruin. Adrenaline was starting to override the booze that was clouding his mind and he bit down on the man's hand as hard as he could. It was enough to get his mouth free and he tried to take advantage of that. "Help me!" he screamed as he tried to run again. "Somebody help me!"

The second man grabbed him and threw him down to the ground like he weighed nothing at all. He tried to scream again but the air was taken out of his lungs with a hard kick to the stomach. As he tried to regain his breath, he looked up at the two large men. They both had evil looks in their eyes. He gulped heavily and tried to scramble backwards—only he couldn't get far because the alley was a dead end.

He was supremely and utterly fucked.

...

Getting drunk had done nothing to help the mood James was in. In fact, he was even crankier than he had been before because Mark had not shut up about that stupid fucking twink Jeff. And the worst part was, he had no idea what the fuck was pissing him off so much. He had no fucking reason to even be angry. Nothing was wrong in his life. Or maybe that was the actual problem. He was in a rut, doing the same shit over and over again with no fucking sign of anything changing. Driving Mark nuts, tormenting Glenn, having sex every single night, killing even more often than that—nothing was making him feel any better. Something was making him extremely unhappy, but he didn't know what the hell it was.

"You ready to go?" Mark asked.

James just grunted.

Mark threw up his hands. "What the fuck has been wrong with you lately? Did aliens come and hijack your mind? You've been acting really fucking weird lately."

"I'm fine," James growled. He didn't want to talk to Mark about this. He just wanted to be left alone.

Mark glared at him. "Would you stop lying? I told you earlier that you couldn't lie worth a shit. Now tell me what's wrong or I'm going to bust your head open."

"Fuck you Mark," James snapped. He hated not being able to lie to Mark. It made things much more complicated than they needed to be.

Mark snarled and went to hit James. James didn't let his companion's fist hit his face. Moving way too fast for a person who had just drank a whole bunch, he whipped his knife out of his pocket, slammed Mark up against the wall and had the knife pointed to the long haired man's throat. "_Quit fucking hitting me_," he hissed angrily. "I fucking mean it Mark. If you think I won't fucking use this on you, you better think again."

"Help me! Somebody help me!"

James and Mark were both surprised by that yell. It sounded a hell of a lot like Jeff. "What the fuck is that twink doing?" James muttered.

"Would you quit calling him a twink?" Mark asked, shoving James away so he could see what the hell was going on with Jeff.

"Twink twink twink. Twink twink twink. He's a twink. He's a twink," James sang purely to irritate Mark.

Mark glared at him and he just rolled his eyes before following Mark. They could hear some sort of ruckus going on deep in a nearby alley and since they both enjoyed a ruckus, they kept following the noise. They soon found that Jeff was being attacked by two large men who had been in the bar earlier. _Those two definitely know what to do with a twink_, James thought to himself.

"Fucking hell," Mark growled. They weren't close enough to the action for Jeff or the two thugs to see or hear them. "We have to do something."

James didn't want to do something. He wanted to go and kill some innocent victim and try to figure out why he was so fucking depressed. But as he watched Jeff get pinned down on the filthy ground, he was strongly reminded of all the girls his father had raped and it was enough to make him take his gloves out of his pocket and put them on. "Get the twink out of here," he muttered. "I'll take care of the cavemen here."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

James nodded. Maybe this is what he needed. Maybe he had been killing people too helpless. Maybe what he really needed was a challenge. And the two men before him would be more than a little challenging. One was actually taller than he was and the other one had a good twenty pounds of muscle on him. Maybe two good, hard fought kills would help pull him out of his funk. "I just hope me killing these guys cancels out the fact that I'm helping you save someone," he muttered. "I can't let this ruin my street cred."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I think you're reputation as the freakiest mother fucker in history will stay intact even after this."

James grinned a little. He took that as a compliment. "Okay then. Let's go be good guys for once."


	2. Unlikely Saviors

**A/N Courtesy of the Rratedauthor... just a word of howdy to those of you not familiar with my end of things... this chapter, however, comes to you from the brilliant mind of redsandmand99. We welcome any comments or critiques you may have of our first joint fic. Please be sparing with your flames as this is the first time I've shared writing duties with anyone. If this works, it sure won't be the last!**

……

Jeff felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. He could barely breathe because he was so fucking scared out of his mind. One of the men was holding him down while the other was working on his clothes. His shirt was already ripped open and his pants were about to be taken off completely. "N-no!" he begged weakly, hating the fact that he was no match for these guys. "P-please no! Let me go!"

"Now why would we do a thing like that?" the guy holding him asked. "Perdy boys like you don't come around here too often. We need to take advantage of you while you're still here."

"You know, I can see where you thought this was a good idea, but it's actually not. So why don't you get off the boy and get lost before I let my boy here do something extremely violent."

Jeff nearly sobbed in relief as he looked over and saw that Mark and James had come to interrupt the party. He had never been so happy to see anyone before in his life.

The same thing could not be said about the attackers though. "Why are you trying to spoil our fun?" the one holding Jeff asked. "You can have a turn after we're done with him."

James snorted. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Nobody is getting the twink tonight."

"Oh yeah?" the second guy said. He stood up and got right in James's face. "What makes you so sure of that?"

James didn't appear to be intimidated at all. In fact, he almost seemed to find something funny about all of this. Jeff noticed that James was holding something behind his back, but he never got a good look at what it was. James head butted the man in his face so hard that it busted the guy's nose open on impact, making the man scream in pain. The other guy let go of Jeff and charged at James, only to get a knee to the gut for his trouble. In shock, Jeff just stared at the fight while Mark ran over to help him get his pants pulled back up. "What the hell are you doing?" he finally squeaked out as he was unceremoniously scooped into Mark's arms. "You have to help him! Those guys are going to kill him!"

Mark almost laughed. "Don't worry too much Jeff. James can take care of himself much better than you can."

Jeff winced as he watched James take a brutal looking punch to the face. But instead of showing any pain, James just laughed. "Come on you big lug!" he snarled. "My mother used to hit me harder than that!"

"And that's not an exaggeration," Mark muttered. He was now carrying Jeff out of the alley. "That fucking bitch could knock a full grown giant silly when she was motivated enough to put down the booze and give it a shot."

Jeff wasn't particularly interested in James's mother. He was too busy trying to wiggle around in Mark's arms so he could get into a good position to watch the fight that was still going on. All he managed to see was James kicking one of the guys in between the legs before Mark blocked his vision. "But I'z wants to see him," he whined. "Mark let me downs. I'm not a baby."

"Really? You sound like a baby right now."

"I do not!" Jeff didn't know why everyone was picking on him today. First Tom, then the bad people in the alley and now Mark. Nobody seemed to love him today.

Mark sighed and took Jeff over to his and James's bikes before setting him down on his own two feet. "What the fuck were you thinking anyway Jeff?" he asked as he grabbed Jeff's arms and steadied him before he fell down. "Why did you come to a place like this?"

"You told me all about it," Jeff reminded him. His legs felt weak and his stomach was doing all kinds of weird things on him. "You said it had lots of beer. And I likes beer."

"Well I figured that out when you got completely hammered," Mark replied. He shook his head. "Does Tom know you're here?"

Jeff frowned. He did not want to hear his husband's name right now. "No. He was being mean to me. Just because Shanny and I drank his beer and were sleeping when he got home, he got all mad and bitching at me." He stomped his foot indigently. "It's not my fault he hates that stupid job McMahon gave him after you hurt him. I never told him that he had to take it. He coulda said no."

"Yeah, but then who would be bringing the money in?" Mark asked. "It's not like you have a job."

"Ugh, you sound like him," Jeff complained. He yanked himself free from Mark and nearly fell over before being caught. Suddenly his stomach felt even worse. "Uh oh," he muttered.

Mark recognized what was about to happen. He quickly moved Jeff away from the bikes. Jeff tried to stop himself, but he puked all over the cement anyway. He kept puking and puking until it hurt, and when he finally stopped he went limp in Mark's arms. "Tonight is not a good night," he whimpered. He looked down and saw he had bruises on his arms from where the men had grabbed him. "Bad peoples hurt me."

Mark sighed. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry though. I'm sure James has taken care of them by now."

"But they big!" Jeff pointed out. He didn't know why Mark couldn't understand that. James was big too, but there were two bad people in that alley. James was going to get hurt really badly if he wasn't careful.

Mark smirked. "Believe me, James knows how to cut people down to size." He suddenly began laughing at his own choice of words.

Jeff was just about to ask Mark what was so funny when he saw James walking towards him. Besides a slightly busted lip, there was hardly a scratch on him. "We should probably vacate the premises," he told them. "The last thing I need to do is to run into some cops right now."

"Where did the bad people go?" Jeff asked. He looked over in the direction of the alley and shuddered. He didn't want those guys to come back after him. Even though he was drunk, he was still completely aware of what could have happened to him if James and Mark hadn't saved him. The thought of those guys doing anything to him was enough to make him want to throw up again.

"They're gone," James replied. He eyed Jeff's bare chest for a long moment before quickly looking away. "They're not coming after you again."

Jeff smiled gratefully and gave James a hug.

"Oh my God," Mark said with a laugh. "That is priceless."

James stiffened up like he was getting burned or something. "What the hell is he doing to me? Get him off of me!"

"You know, I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I want you to go back to being yourself," Mark said as he pried Jeff off of James. "You've been nothing but a complete asshole lately and it's confusing as hell because I'm supposed to be the asshole."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh you're still an asshole Mark. It's not like I'm stealing your thunder or anything."

Jeff looked back and forth between the bickering men. There was something he just thought of that he really didn't want to happen. "Tom's going to be mad at me," he pouted. "He's gonna say Ima even drunker than when I left the house."

"You are drunker than when you left the house," Mark pointed out. "You can't even stand on your own two feet without me holding you up."

Jeff waved his hands dismissively. Mark was so missing the point right now. "I don't want Tom to scold me again," he said with a pout. "Once a day is enough."

Mark sighed. "Fine. Just come home with us for tonight and we'll deal with Tom in the morning."

James looked at Mark like he had grown a second head. Mark glared back at him until the unhappy man just got on to his bike. "He's riding with you," he growled before starting his bike up and then taking off.

"Fucker hasn't been in this bad of a mood since Annabelle died," Mark muttered. "I wonder what the fuck is getting to him."

Jeff was tempted to ask who Annabelle was but he was too tired to actually do it. He just let himself be put on to Mark's bike and hung on tightly as Mark tore out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. It felt good to get away from the place. He still felt really freaked out about getting attacked like that. _Will Tom care that I got attacked?_ _Or is he just going to tell me it's my fault for running off and drinking more?_

Mark and James's place was about twenty minutes away from the bar. It was kind of run down, but it was so huge that Jeff barely noticed the repairs that needed to be made. "Wow!" he said under his breath. "It's a castle!"

Mark chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far with the description. It's not as big as the house he has out in Vegas."

Jeff turned to Mark and looked at him with amazement. "He has more than one house?"

Mark nodded. "He has like four houses and two penthouses. James don't look like it, but he's loaded."

"Where all the money come from?"

"The family business he inherited after his dad died. His dad founded some porn company and James still has it up and running. He has other people doing all the work for him and he just collects the checks. If he could, he'd sell the damn company and not think twice about it."

"Why doesn't he just do that then?" Jeff thought it was stupid for someone to do something they didn't want to do.

"Because he doesn't want to eventually get another job or be dependant on me. That would kill him more than keeping the business he got from a man he hated." Mark grabbed Jeff by the arm and pulled him towards the house. "Come on. Considering the mood he's in, I wouldn't be shocked if he locked us out."

James hadn't done that, but he didn't say anything to them as they came in. He just stared at his cell phone with an unreadable expression on his face. "Cooper just sent me a message," he told Mark. "Connor wants us to get him Michael Myers for his birthday so he can fight him."

"Connor and Cooper are his boys," Mark whispered to Jeff before turning to James. "Did anyone explain to Connor that Michael Myers is a fictional character?"

James shrugged. "Come on Marky, this is Connor we're talking about here. Do you think that thought would have gone through his brain?"

"Good point." Mark turned to Jeff. "We should get you a new shirt."

Jeff shook his head. "I don't need a shirt." He removed the tattered remains of the shirt that were still hanging off his body and put his hands on his hips. "I look good like this."

Mark rolled his eyes but James stared at Jeff with a glazed over expression. Jeff found himself flushing furiously under James's observation. He couldn't help himself. James had the kind of dark, piercing eyes that could turn anyone into pudding.

James suddenly realized he was staring and began muttering under his breath about "stupid fucking twinks" before storming off. Jeff felt his face fall and he looked sadly at Mark. "He doesn't like me," he pouted.

Mark shook his head. "It's just because he's been a real piss ass lately. He doesn't really like anyone when he's in that kind of mood. Eventually he'll shape up and might actually like you." He paused and thought about that. "And if he doesn't then just ignore him."

Jeff didn't want to ignore him though. He was curious about why James was so grouchy. He kept that thought to himself though, and let Mark lead him upstairs to a spare bedroom. "Just lay down and sleep the booze off," Mark told him, making him lay down as he did so. "You're the one who's dealing with Tom in the morning. He's more than likely to chop my head off as soon as he sees me."

Jeff let out a giggle. "He doesn't like you very much Marky."

"No, he really doesn't."

"I think he thinks you hurt him in that match on purpose."

"Well I don't give a shit what he thinks I did. That's his problem if he thinks that." Mark patted Jeff on the head. "Now fucking go to sleep already."

Jeff watched Mark leave and then tried to do what he was told. But every time he closed his eyes, he kept picturing himself back in that alley, only this time Mark and James weren't around to save him. The big men hurt him over and over again, and no matter how much he begged, they refused to stop. He finally just opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't going to be able to sleep by himself here. The nightmares were just going to keep haunting him. Feeling sick to his stomach because his head was spinning, he got out of bed and began searching for Mark and James.

He found them in a room down the hall from the one he had been put in. The two of them were sitting on their bed, watching some movie Jeff hadn't seen before. "What do you want Jeff?" Mark asked when he noticed Jeff standing at the doorway.

"Can I sleep in here with you guys?" Jeff asked hesitantly. "I'm having bad dreams."

James frowned. "Is he serious right now?" he whispered to Mark.

Mark nodded. "Oh yeah," he whispered back. He looked at Jeff and scooted over. "Come on over here. You can do it if you promise me you'll never tell anyone about this."

"Okay," Jeff agreed quickly. He went over and got right in between James and Mark. "Night night," he said as he rested his head against James's chest.

"Oh fun, another Connor," James muttered.

"Uh Jeff?" Mark said in surprise. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"But he made the bad men go away," Jeff mumbled. "That makes me feel safe."

James sighed. "Now I know the universe is coming to the end. Nobody is supposed to feel safe with me. I swear, I'm losing my edge with this funk I'm in."

"I wouldn't go that far," Mark said. "Knowing what you did to those guys in that alley, your badass reputation will stay intact."

Jeff started to ask what James had done to those guys, but all that came out was an incoherent, sleepy mumble. His eyelids began to feel very, very heavy and soon he was passed out completely.


	3. Rough Treatment

Tom watched the ceiling fan spin lazily over his head.

"Fuck." He moaned, trying to time his breath to the whirring of the fan blades. Under most circumstances Tom was calm and cool, but not this time. His Jeffro hadn't come home. Normally Jeff's hours didn't bother him. He knew when last call usually occurred in most of the local taverns, so staggering home at three in the morning was not that big a deal. What really bothered Tom was Shannon driving Jeff's 'vette back around midnight... his mind wandered back to their conversation.

...

"What do you mean he's still having fun?"

"Sorry, bro, but when I left, Jeff was drinkin' up a storm with Mark and that buddy of his."

Outwardly still collected, but Tom's insides started to boil. When Jeff got really drunk, he did really stupid things and it was usually Tom who either ended up having to apologize to someone (or his wife) or staying up all night hoping that Jeff didn't choke on his own vomit.

"And he asked you to drive his car home? How the fuck is he getting back here?" Tom leaned against the door, his temples starting to pound viciously.

"Dude, the way he was pounding them back, there is no chance in hell he'd be okay to drive. Just be glad I'm sober."

"It's Jeff's car... what the hell do I care?" The longer this conversation went on, the less Tom felt like continuing it.

"You want him driving your Viper?" Shannon retorted smugly. Tom's over-protectiveness when it came to his car was the stuff of legend.

"Whatever. Jus' gimme the keys and go!" Tom held out his hand. Shannon slapped them into his hand.

In hindsight, watching Shannon drive away, Tom should've made him stay. It was bad enough that he'd driven from the bar after drinking.

"Come to think of it, where is the Punk staying?" Tom asked aloud, despite there being no one around. "Ah, who gives a shit."

Tom tossed the keys on the table in the hall and went about the business of getting ready for bed. He had to get up even earlier than usual because he had to fly into Stamford for a meeting at Titan. Every time he thought about how much he hated his job, his head pounded more.

"Why the hell am I killing myself when Jeff does sweet fuck all to help." Tom muttered, looking across the bed to where Jeff usually slept. Only Bunny was there and she didn't look all that concerned that their marriage had hit the skids. "What the hell do you care anyway, you dumb rabbit... why am I even talking to you?"

Now, almost six hours later, Tom was still unable to sleep. The more he thought, the more worried he became. It got to the point where every time he closed his eyes, he pictured Jeff lying in a ditch somewhere. With the first beams of sunlight beginning to creep across the horizon, and no sleep anywhere in sight, Tom kicked the blankets away and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"He's thirty-two, Hardy... he can fuckin' take care of himself." Tom's attempt to quash the rising feelings of dread were not working.

Throwing on a bathrobe, Tom padded into the kitchen to make some coffee and to see if maybe Jeff had come home and decided to crash on the couch instead of disturbing him.

The couch was empty, except for a snoring Lucas. Tom dropped down and scratched the puppy's ears, idly thinking to himself.

"Whaddaya think, Luke? Should I call uncle Jeffy and bitch him out for not coming home?"

Lucas yawned.

"Was that a yes?" Tom asked

Lucas looked over at Tom, then jumped off the couch and ran to the back door.

"Oh." Tom grabbed his cell phone from the charger, then let Lucas out and followed him onto the porch. As the sun rose, Tom looked up at the sky. It looked like the weatherman's forecast of rain might be accurate for once.

"Better do this before my reputation as a bad ass goes out the window." Tom said, even though there was still no one around to hear him.

Tom one-touch dialed Jeff's cell phone, which was on the table in the spare room of James' house. Jeff, on the other hand, was still snuggled in bed with Mark and James, his head not leaving James' chest once that night.

James heard the enchanting ring of Jeff's phone when he pried himself from the pair to answer the call of nature. James was not a morning person to say the least. His morning interactions usually consisted of the words "off" and "fuck" and usually not in that order. His activities earlier that morning had done nothing to soften his mood. He was still pissed off, and whomever it was that was disturbing his funk was going to pay for it.

"Whomever this is, you better have your health insurance paid."

Tom looked at the phone in his hand, quickly checking the display. It would be really awkward if he'd called the wrong number.

"Who the fuck is this?" James shouted into the receiver.

"Tom Hardy." Tom yelled back. "And you?"

"Never mind that... what are you doing calling at this hour?"

"What are you doing answering my husband's phone in the first place?" This was not the conversation Tom was expecting to have an hour before he had to leave for the airport.

"Ohhh, right. 'Scuse me." James clomped into the bedroom where Jeff was now curled up on top of Mark. "Hey, twink, phone." He banged the receiver off Jeff's head to wake him up.

"Owie!" Jeff screamed "That hurted me!"

"It's your husband." James thrust the phone at him. "Go somewhere else please. I don't wanna hear this."

Jeff pouted.

James watched Jeff walk out of the bedroom. He still couldn't stop staring at his ass as he passed him. He was drawn to those two perfectly shaped globes encased in denim that was much too tight for his own good. James could now see why those two behemoths at the bar had taken him for their next meal.

"James, you gotta stop bein' so fuckin' obvious." Mark chuckled dryly.

"I told you I am not fuckin' interested in that twink!" James shouted

"But he makes you feel safe... that should count for somethin'?"

"That'll count for you gettin' an ass-kickin' if you don't shut up already."

Mark started throwing clothes on, the same ones he'd worn to the bar. "Whatever." For years, he'd listened to James threatening to do something to his ass.

James continued to glare at Mark while he finished dressing. "I'm goin' out."

"I guessed that. People usually don't get dressed up to make breakfast. "James reached for the pack of cigarettes on the nightstand.

"Don't burn the fuckin' house down before I get back."

"It's my house and if I want to burn it down, then I'm gonna burn it the fuck down!" James stared at the lit end of the cigarette.

Mark sighed. Dealing with this downward spiral James was in was at that point where drastic measures might be needed, though covering for another of his murderous sprees was not tops on his list of priorities.

In the hall, Mark passed Jeff who was having a very animated talk with Tom.

"If you need a ride home, I'll drive you when I get back." He whispered so not to interrupt.

Something in Jeff's body language seemed to say that going home was the last thing on his mind. Nothing in Jeff and Tom's relationship was anything even remotely resembling normal. For one thing they were brothers, yet they were also married. But most of the guys on the roster had relationships that weren't what you'd expect. Even his own relationship with James fell into that category.

...

"So where the hell are you?" Tom demanded

"If you must know, I spent the night with Mark and James." Jeff responded

"You what?" This was not the answer Tom was expecting.

"Yeah... they helped me last night." Jeff stated

"I can imagine what kind of help those two gave you." Tom opened the patio door to let Lucas back into the house. Far above, thunder rumbled ominously.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"For God's sake, you went out, already buzzing, got even more hammered, then went home with two guys. How stupid do you think I am?" Tom shook his head.

"Tommy, nothing happened. We watched a movie and then fell asleep."

"I'll just bet."

"Tommy, why are you acting like this?" Jeff was on the verge of tears.

"Jeff, we'll finish this when I come home tomorrow." Tom said, reaching behind him to open the patio door when he saw the first drop of rain hit the ground.

"Maybe Imma stay here." Jeff stuck out his lower lip. "Mark and James love me..."

"Whatever. I'll feed Lucas before I go." Tom hung up without even saying goodbye. A loud rumble of thunder boomed as he walked into the bedroom and quickly packed his overnighter for the trip to Connecticut.

Jeff stared at the phone. "...but not as much as I love you." He said to dead air, his mouth trembling.

James flipped on the DVD player. Maybe if he was lucky, he could catch the end of last night's movie in peace. With 'the twink' asleep on his chest, it had been damn near impossible to concentrate.

No sooner had his large frame settled itself onto the bed, then the door was pushed open.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Tommy hates me." Jeff sulked

The last thing James wanted was to deal with Jeff. It was bad enough that Mark had left him alone with him. _Must resist urge to strangle him. Must resist urge to strangle the fucking twink Must resist urge to fuck the twink while doing that strangling...oh fucking hell._

...

Despite having zero sleep the night before, Tom could not close his eyes for more than a minute on the flight. Every time he did, he saw Jeff's face and that made him angry and guilty at the same time. Several times he stared at the phone beside his seat, wondering if a face-saving phone call was the answer, but what could he say to Jeff that would make things all better?

Eventually, he closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep, only waking when the Captain announced the final approach.

...

James was confused. There was something about Jeff that captivated him, yet he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was having these feelings. Damn, what he wouldn't give for the exhilaration of killing an innocent. The thrill of the two men last night had worn off rather quickly and he was back to his funk almost the second he'd arrived back home. To top it off, he'd had the twink use him as a pillow for the entire night. That had not helped matters at all.

"I just wish that we could have a conversation that didn't end in an argument," Jeff said with a pout. He was sitting on the bed with James, completely oblivious to the fact that James was not actually listening to him. "I know he loves me and I still love him, but it feels like every time we talk, we lose sight of that fact. He gets mad or I get mad and it ends in badness."

James went ahead and paused the movie. He sensed that Jeff wasn't going to shut the fuck up any time soon and his whining about his relationship with Tom was distracting. "Why don't you tell him this?" he asked, hoping that would make sense to the younger man and get him the hell out of there.

"What's the point?" Jeff said sullenly. "He's going to Stamford today anyway for his job and it probably has already made him even madder than he already was." He punched the bed and then pulled his knees up to his chest. "He freaked when I told him where I was. He acted like I did something bad with you guys."

"Well why wouldn't he think that? You went off with two guys like me and Mark while completely hammered," James reminded him. "If I were in his shoes, I would so think you got fucked by us."

Jeff glared at him. "That's not helping me right now. This is about comforting me."

"Well I don't comfort people, so go somewhere else if you want that," James snapped. He got off the bed and opened the bedroom door for the twink.

Jeff continued to just glare at him. "Why are you being so mean to me? I never did anything to you."

"I don't need a reason," James replied. "If I feel like being mean, then I'll be mean. Now out."

"No."

James raised his eyebrow. The kid didn't seem to get he wasn't fucking around at the moment. "I said get out," he growled.

Jeff looked at him defiantly. "No. I'm waiting for Mark to take me home."

"Then go wait outside."

"I don't want to."

James finally couldn't take it. He had humored Jeff for long enough. Mark wasn't here and nice James was leaving the building. If the kid didn't get out of his sight, there was a chance that Jeff wasn't going to make it to see Tom again. He went over to the bed, grabbed Jeff by the scruff of the neck and yanked him off the bed. Jeff let out a yelp of pain and began struggling wildly. "Get off of me! Damn it, that hurts!"

_He better fucking stop wiggling like that,_ James thought to himself. _I can't take that shit right now. I really...oh fuck it. _Without even thinking, James slammed Jeff up against the wall and kissed him roughly. Jeff froze up at first but then, in an almost surprising turn of events, began kissing him back. James almost stopped because he was so shocked, but the spell Jeff had over him wouldn't allow him to do that. Instead he not so nicely reached down into the smaller man's pants and grabbed his dick. He heard Jeff gasp as he began rubbing the length, switching from kissing to biting Jeff's lips as he did so. He could taste just a little bit of blood and it was one of the sweetest things he had ever tasted.

Jeff whimpered and his legs began to buckle. The sounds he was making were driving James wild. He had Jeff whimpering and writhing at his very touch and he couldn't get enough of it. Finally breaking the kiss, he used his free hand to unbuckle Jeff's pants and free the twink's dick just seconds before he came. Jeff's seed splashed all over his hand, and he could feel Jeff collapsing against him. Without saying a word, he put Jeff back on the bed and then left the room. He needed to wash his hand.

_What the hell am I doing? I don't just give out hand jobs without expecting anything back. Fuck, Mark's lucky if I blow him without putting up a fight_. Yet a hand job was what he had just given Jeff. Out of all the things he could have done just then, he chose to get Jeff off instead of himself. "Fuck!" he yelled angrily as he kicked the bathroom door open. He washed his hands and then punched the mirror above the sink until it shattered into pieces. Without bothering to try to stop the bleeding, he stormed back out of the room. He could hear Mark's motorcycle pulling up into the driveway._ Fucking Mark knows me better than I know myself. I think I better show him exactly what I think of that._

…..

Mark had just stepped through the doorway when he felt a fist connect with his face. Cursing loudly, he barely managed to stay on his own two feet. "What the fuck was that for?" he yelled angrily.

James glared at him. "Why would you leave me alone with the twink? What possessed you to think that was such a fucking great idea?"

Mark shrugged. "I thought you two could use some alone time." He smirked as he saw James's glare get even deadlier. "Am I right in thinking that you and Jeff had some fun?"

James literally started to shake because he was so angry. "I fucking gave him a hand job," he growled.

Mark raised his eyebrow. That hadn't been what he had been expecting to hear. "Did he give you one back?"

"No."

Now Mark was even more shocked. "Wow, you gave something to someone without getting something in return? You've got it worse than I thought Lawson."

Snarling, James punched Mark in the face again before storming out of the house all together. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Mark slammed the door behind him. He wasn't too shocked by James's antics. The killer could be a bit dramatic when he got that mad. _It's probably eating him up that I was right and he does have the hots for Jeff. He hates it when I'm right about stuff like that._

Sighing to himself, Mark went into the kitchen and put his keys on the table. He wasn't too upset by what James had done. It wasn't like they were completely monogamous, and besides from that, all that had happened was a stupid hand job. That was nothing in Mark's book. Sure there was a voice in the back of his head asking what the hell made Jeff so special that James would just give him pleasure without being a complete ass about it. Even Mark couldn't manage that. Grumbling under his breath, he decided he better check on Jeff. Judging from the mood James had left in, there was a chance that Hardy wasn't in one piece. _James better not have fucked him up too bad. Tom will murder us both with a machine gun if he did._

...

Tom tried to focus on whatever the hell Stephanie McMahon was prattling on about, but he could not get Jeff out of his mind. Tom was known for his ability to hold a grudge (just ask Mark), but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Jeff wasn't deliberately trying to hurt him. As well, Tom came to the conclusion that he shouldn't dwell on family problems during a sales meeting.

"I know fiscal projections aren't real exciting, but could you please focus, Mr. Hardy." Stephanie threw a ball of paper at Tom, and it bounced off his head, snapping him back to reality.

"Sorry." Tom apologized "My mind is not here today."

Stephanie nodded sympathetically. Being married to Jeff was an enigma in itself and there were times when she wondered how her best salesman kept it together.

"I can see that. Come to my office after the meeting." It seemed that was all the sympathy Tom was going to receive as Stephanie went right back to her presentation on merchandising trends.

Somehow, Tom got through the rest of the meeting. What was even more impressive was that he remembered most of what was said. Afterward, he waited in Stephanie's office for what he assumed was a verbal whipping. He straightened his tie and prepared to take it like the former IC champion he was.

When she did arrive, Tom forced a smile and waited.

"Tom..."

This surprised him. Usually Stephanie was not on a first-name basis with her sales force, even as mentioned, her top dog.

"Ma'am?"

"...I've noticed that you've seemed a lot more distracted than usual recently. Is there something I should know about?" This was the kinder, gentler Stephanie that few outside her family saw.

"Jeff and I have been fighting again." Tom sighed "It's like he goes out of his way to piss me off and then I end up feeling like the bad guy. He knows we need this job, yet he complains that I'm never home and then when I am home, he's always hanging out with his friends anyway so I'm starting to wonder why I'm still with him."

"Hot sex?" Stephanie cracked a smile.

Tom chuckled, then he realized who he was talking to and wiped the grin off his face.

"Look, I know how tough it is to balance work and a family." Stephanie replied "Even Paul and I have had our rough patches, but we always work it out. Sometimes you need to figure out what is important."

"I know what is important, but we also gotta have the money comin' in. Jeff isn't exactly the most frugal when it comes to spending." Tom answered "I don't know how much he made when he was wrestling, but he didn't save much."

Stephanie started shuffling papers on her desk.

"I'm sorry if I'm prattling on here." Tom said, afraid that he'd offended his boss by talking about company financial matters. "So where am I working this week?"

"Nowhere." She answered

"Ma'am?" Tom asked

"Tom, you are my best salesman, but right now you need to deal with this." Stephanie answered "I'm giving you the next two weeks off. Take them, get things straightened out, and then you can come back just as you were."

Tom gasped. Was Stephanie actually threatening his job?

"Let me put it to you this way. When you are on your game, no one else can touch you in terms of the sales dollars you bring to this company. This is not me telling you shape up or ship out, this is me telling you that we need you and we are willing to work with you on this. If two weeks isn't enough, let us know and we'll come to an arrangement. Are we clear?"

Tom nodded, feeling like the weight of the world was off his shoulders.

"Keep me posted. Now get outta my office."

"Thank-you. I do appreciate it." Tom ran from the office and immediately called Jeff.

"Enigma..."

"Jeff, it's me... I'm coming home. We gotta talk..."

"...either I can't find my phone or I'm busy. Leave a message."

"Damn!" Tom swore. He fell for that trick every time he got Jeff's voice mail. He waited for the beep. "Jeffro, it's Tommy. The company's given me the next two weeks off. I really want things to go back the way they were, so can we please sit down and talk this out? I'll see you when I get home. I love you."

….

Jeff was on the back of Mark's bike, daydreaming, when Tom had called. He was still enraptured over what had happened with James. It was so rough, demanding, even a little bit violent, not at all what Jeff usually liked in his sexual encounters. So why was he suddenly craving the feel of James' hands on him?

Jeff sighed loudly, and wrapped his arms a little tighter around Mark. Why did things suddenly hafta get so complicated?


	4. Confessions

James drove around on his motorcycle for a good hour, using every mind trick he knew in an effort to forget about what had just taken place between him and Jeff. It didn't really work the way he wanted it to. Every time he thought he had gotten Jeff out of his head, something would make him think about the little fucker again. He kept thinking about the way Jeff tasted, the way he whimpered and writhed up against the wall, the way his face look when he came…it was driving James crazy. It got to the point where he had to pull over and compose himself because he was going to wreck if he kept driving in the distracted state he was in.

This was all Mark's fault. Mark had brought the twink over to drink with them and had started this whole mess. Now James was going crazy because of the things he was thinking about doing to Jeff. _I could do a lot of things that he probably hasn't even dreamed about being done to him. I could have done it when Mark was gone but I didn't. Maybe I should have done it. I should have just fucked him and got it over with._

That was a great idea and all, but there was a catch. Jeff seemed like the type to get attached to the people he fucked. And James did not need the twink attached to him. It would end up being more trouble than the sex was worth. Jeff would want love and James didn't give that like normal people because he didn't feel it like other people could. There were very few people that he even actually liked, so for him to love somebody was pretty rare.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by his cell phone ringing. He got it out of his pocket and looked at the number on the screen before answering it. It was Cooper. "Hello?" he said with a sigh.

"Daddy!" Connor yelled. He had stolen Cooper's phone again. "I got a puppy! Come over and see it!"

James quickly moved the phone away from his ear. Connor had just about broken his ear drum screaming like that. "Connor, we've had this discussion before. You're twenty two years old. You can't be screaming like a five year old anymore. It kills my eardrums when you do that."

Connor sighed impatiently. "Daddy!" he whined. "Don't lecture me! You sound like Mark. Now come over before I kill you."

James chuckled in amusement as he was hung up on. Connor was the only one who had permission to do that. His youngest son wasn't stable to realize just how annoying that was and it was not worth the effort to get mad at him. Putting the cell phone back in his pocket, James started the bike back up and drove to Connor and Cooper's house. He had bought them the house because they wanted a place of their own so they didn't have to constantly stay with him and Mark. Cooper and Mark (who was actually Cooper's biological father) didn't get along and their fights could get as bad as the ones James had with Mark. The only difference was that Cooper and Mark didn't have make-up sex. They just threw shit at each other until their arms got tired and then stormed off and then the process would start all over again at a later time.

The house Connor and Cooper lived in was in a neighborhood that was way too nice looking for James's liking. The neighbors didn't seem to like him either whenever he came over to visit. They always gave him fearful looks before quickly walking away from him. It was like they thought he was dangerous or something. Today was no different because he counted six children being pulled into their houses as he passed. Grumbling under his breath, he pulled into Cooper and Connor's driveway. Connor was in the yard, playing with beagle puppy who was so cute that it almost sickened James.

"Daddy!" Connor yelled happily. He scooped the puppy into his arms and ran at James. "Look at Snoopy!"

James raised his eyebrows. "Snoopy?"

Connor nodded eagerly. "Snoopy loves me Daddy! He licks me and sniffs me and he likes to play and—"

"Damn it Connor! I told you to pick this crap up off the floor!" Cooper yelled as he poked his head out the door. He looked more than a little annoyed with his younger brother. "Someone is going to trip and break their neck because of your stupid toys!"

"My toys are not stupid!" Connor yelled back. He looked at James for support. "Tell him Dad!"

James put up his hands. "I am not getting in the middle of this. You two are sorting this out yourself."

Cooper took two steps towards Connor and Connor squeaked loudly. "Okay, okay, I'll clean up!" He held on to Snoopy tightly (who was barking and howling for no good reason) and ran into the house.

James chuckled and walked over to Cooper. "You've really got him whipped don't you?"

Cooper shrugged. "I'm actually surprised that worked. I was expecting him to just run away down the block screaming rape at the top of his lungs."

"He's done that recently?"

"About a week ago he did it for an hour. He just kept running back and forth across the sidewalk screaming at the top of his lungs. Someone called the cops and he almost got arrested for disturbing the peace. It was crazy."

James could easily picture Connor doing something like that and it made him laugh. "If Mark would have been around, he would have punched Connor in the mouth after about ten minutes of that."

"And then I would have set Mark on fire," Cooper replied. He was extremely protective of Connor. "Speaking of Mark, he called the other day and said you were in some kind of funk."

James shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Why?"

"If I knew the answer to that, I would be fixing the mother fucking problem." James followed Cooper into the house. The first place they went once inside was the kitchen. "It feels like no matter what I do, I'm not happy anymore. It's driving me nuts."

"Have you ever gotten this way before?"

"Once. It was when your mom died."

"How did you pull yourself back together?"

"I don't know. Time might have healed the wound of losing her and that could have been it. Or it was me setting people on fire at an alarming rate. I can't remember at the moment."

Cooper chuckled. "Knowing you, it was probably the fire thing." He opened the fridge and got two beers out. "Anything else I should know about? I'm Dr. Cooper and I'm here to service you." He paused and then frowned. "Can we pretend that didn't sound completely dirty?"

"What sounded dirty?" James asked.

Cooper grinned. "Good man." He handed James a beer before hopping up and sitting on the counter. "Now talk to me. Is there anything else I can pretend to be helpful with?"

James went ahead and told his son about everything that went down last night and earlier in the day with Jeff. When he was done, Cooper jut looked at him for a long moment before slapping him across the face. It took him a moment to process that he had been hit and when it did sink in, he was not exactly pleased. "What the fuck was that for?"

"You had a chance to fuck Jeff Hardy and you did not take it?" Cooper said incredulously. "My God Dad, this funk you've been has damaged your brain! You need some serious help here Father Dearest."

James rubbed the side of his face. "Did you understand the part where he is a twink and will probably become a pain in my ass?"

Cooper just shook his head. "Dad, stop over thinking this shit. What the fuck do you care if he gets attached? If you don't want more than sex, then shatter his heart to a million pieces! Who gives a shit? But don't stand there and tell me that you don't think fucking Jeff won't be worth the trouble because your downward spiral is lying to you. Fuck, I can't even concentrate on his matches because I'm too busy thinking about what I could do to that body. And to hear you say that you're not going to bother fucking me is a disgrace to our name. If you do not find him and bang the shit out of him, I'm disowning you!"

James stared at Cooper for a long time. The verbal ass kicking was starting to clear up the fucked up fog he had been living in for weeks. Some of it still lingered, but a few facts were now perfectly clear to him. He was James Lawson damn it. He took whatever the fuck he wanted and said to hell with the consequences. And honestly, once that fact re-cemented itself into his mind, he realized that he did want to fuck Jeff. He wanted to make Jeff scream in ways he never had before. To hell with Tom and to hell with Jeff if he didn't want it; he was going to make that happen. But there was still one thing he needed to address. "That was a little overdramatic son," he said slowly. "You haven't been watching the soap operas again, have you?"

"No, of course not," Cooper denied way too quickly.

Shaking his head, James took a beer that he had been given. He was feeling better right now than he had been for weeks, but he felt like there was something he needed to do just to help his healing process. "You have gasoline around here?"

Cooper nodded. "Yeah, why?"

James grinned. "Get it while I grab Connor and Snoopy. We have some work to do.

…..

Mark flipped through the TV channels impatiently. He was trying to relax and eat some chips while watching a good show, but he was failing miserably. James was out there somewhere, getting himself into trouble. He just knew it. The killer wasn't answering his phone and that didn't happen unless he was up to something. Mark was tempted to try to hunt James down and drag him back home, but he wasn't sure where to even start looking. Besides, the fact that he had gotten punched twice before James's departure probably meant that it wasn't a good idea for him to do the hunting thing.

So once again, he tried to distract himself with the television. It still failed to work until the news caught his eye. It was an emergency report about how somebody had been tied to a park bench and set on fire in broad daylight. He watched the report with his mouth hanging wide open, and it wasn't until it went to commercial that he finally managed to speak. "Son of a b—"

"Honey, I'm home!" James shouted cheerfully as he came in the front door. He looked much happier now than when he had left and it didn't take long to figure out why: he fucking reeked of gasoline. Only a total idiot couldn't put this equation together.

"Have you gone absolutely insane?" Mark shouted. He got out of his chair, grabbed James and gave him a good hard shake. "You don't set people on fire in broad daylight! What the hell were you thinking?"

James pushed Mark away and rolled his eyes. "I was just bonding with the boys," he said defensively before heading towards the stairs."

Mark wanted to throttle him. It wasn't that he cared about the whole burning a person alive thing (he didn't need to be told the person had been alive—he knew James too well to even question that). It was the fact that it had been done not only in broad daylight, but it had been done in a park. A park where someone could have came by and saw him. Somebody could have caught him and taken him away. The thought bothered Mark a hell of a lot more than he wanted to admit.

Muttering obscenities under his breath, Mark followed James upstairs to their bedroom. "You're fucking lucky you didn't get caught," he pointed out. "Do you have any idea what could have happened—"

"Don't lecture me Marky," James interrupted. He took off his clothes and grabbed some new ones from the closet. "I'm finally in a good mood again and I don't want you to spoil it."

Mark put his hands on his hips. James did seem to be more like himself again. It was easy for him to tell because of his eyes. He knew just about all of James's moods just because of his eyes. It was yet another thing he didn't plan to admit any time soon. "Whatever. Just be more careful next time."

"Yes Daddy," James said, smirking because he knew Mark hated that. He finished getting dressed and then hopped on to the bed. "So did you get the twink home?"

"Yeah," Mark replied. "He's safe and sound there."

"I want to fuck him."

Mark stared at James incredulously. Had that phrase really just been uttered? "_What_?" he said incredulously. "You did nothing but bitch about him the entire time he was with him and you basically molested him while I was gone and then you punched me in the face for leaving you alone with him—"

"Marky, you really should stop and breathe," James said. "Your face is starting to turn red."

"And now you're telling me that you want to fuck him?" Mark finished up, practically panting for breath as he did.

"Yeah," James said with a nod. "That's basically the gist of the situation."

Mark threw his hands up in the air. "Why now all of a sudden? Why the fuck are you telling me this now?"

"Because Cooper gave me a verbal ass kicking that knocked some sense back into me," James replied. "And I realized that me denying what I really wanted was stupid." He looked up at Mark with great interest. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this? I thought you wanted me to fuck him."

"I never said that. I only pointed out the fact you had the desire to fuck him. I never said just go fuck him already."

James gave him an amused look. "Are you jealous Marky?"

"No," Mark said immediately. He knew where this was going. This was going to turn into a fight. It always did. "He's married."

"To a guy that you hate," James pointed out. "And he hates you back. Why do you care if I cause some complications?"

"Jeff's going to get attached."

"Who said I would give him the chance for that? I just want to fuck the guy. I want to see if he's a screamer."

Mark glared at James. Fuck, his fucking tormenting from last night was coming back to bite him in the ass. James was admitting that he wanted to fuck Jeff, but he was still deluding himself into thinking it would just be either one time or just sex. He still didn't fully realized how fascinated he had been by Jeff. Jeff had fucked up in the past, but he was still had an innocence about him that would attract James like a moth to a flame. Innocence was something James never had and was something Mark couldn't give him. It was going to turn this situation into more of a clusterfuck than it already fucking was.

James titled his head to the side. "If you admit that you're jealous, I'll reconsider going through with it."

_That dirty fucking bastard_, Mark thought to himself. He hated it when James played this card because he couldn't even begin to admit to himself that he was jealous, let alone say it out loud to anyone else. He couldn't even begin to express how jealous just thinking about James fucking Jeff was making him now. So he did what he was good at when he fought with James: he made things worse. "Go to hell Lawson."

James straightened up and glared at him. "I'll save you a seat," he snapped angrily. He stormed out of the room, taking the time to intentionally run his shoulder into Mark as he did so.

Mark just stood still for awhile, hating this mess he had helped to start. "Fuck!" he yelled angrily. He punched the wall as hard as he could. The jealously was boiling inside of him now and he didn't even want to think about how he was going to feel once James did get a hold of Jeff again. "I need a fucking drink," he muttered. "I'm too old to deal with this shit."

....

Jeff puttered around the house, getting everything ready for when Tom came home. He needed things to be, to coin a phrase, brilliant, because he had decided that he was going to tell Tom everything from the bar, to the alley, to what had happened with James.

He'd already prepared Tom's favorite dinner, there was a bottle of very expensive French wine on ice, and he was dressed in his sexiest outfit. Candles were lit, soft music was playing on the stereo, and all that was missing was his husband.

Jeff squeaked when he heard the sounds of a car pull up to the house. Not wanting to seem to anxious, he peeked through the curtains and let out another squeal when he saw Tom.

"Don't fuck this up." He chided himself. "Just relax... it was just a hand job." He didn't want Tom to think he was waiting for him, so he ducked back into the kitchen when he heard the sounds of the key in the front door.

"Anybody home?" The familiar lilt of Tom's SoCal accent felt like music to his ears. Jeff bounded from the kitchen and warmly embraced his man.

"I missed you Tommy." He said, breaking the hug only long enough to kiss him deeply. Instinctively, their mouths opened and their tongues were soon dancing.

Finally, their mouths parted. "I see you've been busy." Tom looked around the dining room. "What's the occasion?"

"Do I need a reason?" Jeff was suddenly all nerves. "Since we now have some time together, I wanted to do something special for you. Now take your jacket off and sit down. Dinner will be ready in five minutes."

Only after dinner had been completed and cleared away, did the conversation Tom wanted to have begin.

"Jeff, we need to talk." Tom sat on the couch and motioned for his husband to sit beside him.

Jeff swallowed nervously. "Tommy, I..."

"Let me say what I have to say, then you can respond." Tom interrupted "I did a lot of thinking and me being angry at you isn't going to help anything. It's just sometimes I feel that I'm putting a lot more into our life and getting a lot less out of it than you are. I really need to know that you're committed to us."

Jeff hesitated. Two days ago, the question would've been easy to answer, but now he wasn't sure. It had taken a lot to get James out of his mind, even for a second.

"You know my feelings for Mark and his fuck-buddy. If you can tell me that nothing happened the other night, I'll believe you." Tom knew he was setting himself up, but he needed the truth. "I need you to be honest with me."

Jeff paused again. Oh, how easy it would've been to lie. "James gave me a hand job," he stated.

Tom expression remained unchanged. "Oh."

"I didn't mean for it to happen. We were talking and then he kissed me and then..." Jeff's explanation was falling on deaf ears.

Tom sighed. "A hand job." He repeated "A fuckin' hand job."

There was silence between them.

"Tommy... are you mad at me?" Jeff asked in a tiny voice.

Tom cocked his head. He looked around the house, at everything it represented, and none of it mattered anymore.

"Get your shit packed. I want you outta my house by the time I get back." Without another word, Tom was gone. Jeff heard the sound of his car pulling away and only then did he begin to cry.


	5. Therapy

Tom angrily drove the streets, fuming over what had just happened. He needed something to get his mind off what had just happened and he needed to find it before he went into a James-like rage. He found it in the form of an all-night gym. Maybe a workout was what he needed to get all this negative energy out of his system.

He paid the visitors' charge and quickly changed. He always carried a set of workout gear with him when he traveled. No one, not even Jeff knew this, because Tom himself was carrying a secret. Despite the doctor's prognosis, Tom was determined that one day he would return to the ring to get some revenge on Mark and now that Mark's man was involved in his personal life, the desire was almost overwhelming.

He started with a few light weights, then once he'd started to work up a sweat, he took his turn at the leg press. One set of twenty reps at 150, then another at 200, then another at 250 and Tom felt the tension start to drift away. As he added the next set of 50, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"I thought the docs told you no working out for at least six months."

Tom dropped the plate with a clang, barely missing his big toe.

"When the fuck did you get back?" He looked at Matt with surprise.

"Not soon enough." Matt answered "Ya wanna talk?"

"I really don't." Tom stated "I'm trying to burn off my anger in a constructive manner."

"I can see that." Matt looked at the weights already on the machine. "But I thought..."

"The doc also told me I might never walk again, and you know how right he was on that." Tom interrupted

"Bro, I'm just looking out for you. Someone's got to." Matt leaned against the leg machine and amusedly stared at Tom.

"You talked to Jeffro, didn't you?" Tom asked

"That's a stupid question, big brother." Matt responded "He's really torn up about this."

"He's torn up? I'm the one getting the short end of the hand job here." Tom heaved the plate back onto the bar and sat down on the machine.

"Tom, you know Jeff did not mean to hurt you." Matt answered

"Well he did and with James of all people." Tom responded "If it had been with almost anyone else on the fuckin' planet, I wouldn't mind so much. But he has to go and screw around with one of the few people I'd like to take a machete to."

"Maybe if you spent a little more time with him, then this would be a non-issue." Matt suggested

"Maybe if you and your father had taught him about saving money, then I wouldn't have to be away so damn much." Tom retorted, now off the machine and glaring at his younger brother-slash-brother-in-law.

"Leave me out of your marital spats." Matt answered "Gil and I did the best we could."

"Obviously your best wasn't good enough." Tom yelled

Criticize anything else about him, but Matt's temper always boiled over when someone commented about how Jeff had been raised. Slap... Matt's open palm met the side of Tom's face.

"Is that it? Can't you think of anything better to do than that?"

Was the bastard actually smiling? Matt stared at his brother is disbelief. He'd slapped Tom with as much force as he'd dared.

"Tom, I..." Matt faltered a little.

"I have been punched, kicked, chopped, slammed, suplexed, and choked by a lot of people over the years and that has got to be the worst hit yet." Tom broke into laughter. "Remember that match I had with Hornswoggle? He hit harder than that and he was pulling them."

"I can hit you harder if you want." Matt returned "There's a ring here and it ain't being used."

"What the hell?" Tom shrugged "It'll be nice to have an opponent who fights back for a change."

Matt climbed into the ring, followed by Tom. It was a boxing ring, but as long as they stuck to chain wrestling, it wouldn't be a problem.

"Nothing too heavy until I get my sea legs back." Tom said to himself, whike he stretched, quickly testing out his knee. No twinges or tweaks which after the earlier weight training was a good thing.

"Okay. Ding Ding Ding." Matt mimicked the bell.

….

Jeff paced the living room, suitcase in his hand. He'd been trying to reach Tom desperately by phone for the past half-hour, once he'd stopped crying, but no such luck. Finally he'd given in and left a very long and emotional message; something along the lines of "I'm sorry I hurt you but if you want me to go, I'll go." kind of thing.

Looking around the house that he thought he'd be living in for the rest of his life, Jeff thought about all the good times spent there and that started the tears again. Not knowing when Tom was going to return made up his mind for him.

"Imma goin'." He sobbed, walking out the front door. He tossed the keys in the mailbox and, as a last act of defiance, plowed into the garbage cans at the curb as he drove off. One problem... where could he go?

...

"One, two,. Three..." Tom mock-counted. "I win."

What had started out as a not-so-serious spar had quickly degenerated into a full-blown match, including usage of the Side Effect and Twist of Fate by Matt and a Swanton and the Insanity by Tom, leading to the 'pin'. A little winded, but his knee had held up through it all, a fact not lost on his opponent.

"Good job, bro."

"Thanks." Tom panted. His endurance still needed some work.

"Why are you working for Steph instead of wrestling?" Matt asked

"'Coz Dr. Youngblood won't clear me to return." Tom replied "And I guess JR listens to him rather than the talent."

Matt nodded, the gears turning.

"What?" Tom knew the look Matt was giving him. It meant he was thinking deeply about something.

"Y'know, a lot of the guys don't trust Youngblood. Let me get you the number of my doctor." Matt said

"What will that do?"

"Tom, according to Youngblood, I was supposed to be out six months after having my stomach surgery." Matt stated

"I dunno." Tom was a little hesitant about returning to action, despite his hatred of his current position.

"At least come to Smackdown tomorrow night and say hi to the guys. We're in the area." Matt begged

Tom sighed. He knew that Mark was still on the Smackdown roster. Considering their last encounter ended really badly, he was the last person Tom wanted anything to do with for the rest of this lifetime, or the one after that.

"Dude, Mark might be the best shot you got at getting Jeff back." Matt gripped his brother's shoulder.

"What makes you think I want him back?" Tom asked

Matt slapped Tom again. "Don't lie to me and I'll pick you up tomorrow night." Obviously, Matt's mind was made up. "And I won't say anything to Jeff."

...

Jeff turned into the driveway of a familiar house. After an hour of trying hard not to completely lose it, he concluded that it was James' fault that his marriage was over.

"Imma gonna make him explain to Tom that I love him and what happened was all his fault." Jeff said.

How this was going to be accomplished was another story. As Jeff had seen, physically James was a match for any man, or men, so intimidation of that sort was not gonna work. Maybe Mark could talk some sense into him.

Boldly, Jeff knocked on the door and waited. He heard the clomping on heavy feet on stairs, then the door was swung open.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Mark asked

"Imma talk to James." Jeff stated. "Tommy kicked me out and it's all his fault."

"Lawson, get your mother fucking ass down here right now!" Mark bellowed.

Another pair of feet banged on the stairs. "This better be real fucking important Callaway!"

"It is, dumb ass!" Mark stepped to the side. James eyes widened when he saw Jeff.

"What do you want, Twink?" James demanded

Mark blinked at James' words... was this the same James who'd just admitted that he wanted Jeff?

"Tommy kicked me out and it's all your fault." Jeff stuck out his bottom lip and pouted.

"So, what do I care?" James replied

"Either, you tell him that it was all your fault..."

"Fat fuckin' chance o' that." James barked "You wanted it as much as... anyone else."

"...or Imma gonna stay here." Jeff crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

"And that ain't gonna happen either, so I'm afraid that you're shit outta luck." James started to close the door, but Mark stopped him.

"You made the mess Lawson, now clean it the fuck up," Mark growled. "You're the one who—"

"Technically this is your fault since you left us alone together," James interrupted. "And you've managed to piss me off again so why don't you clean it the fuck up?"

"Jeff get in here," Mark ordered. "And go upstairs. I'm going to have another little talk with James."

Jeff did what he was told, but he didn't go far enough upstairs to where he couldn't hear or see anything. He wanted to listen in on what James and Mark were going to talk about.

"I'm not cleaning any mess up," James said defiantly. "And he's not staying here."

"Your hand job got him kicked out, you clean up the mess," Mark stated. He looked ready to throttle James. "And if you can't tell Tom that this was your fault, then—"

"You really want Jeff to stay here?" James asked. "Because I know what that's going to do to you."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You're jealous! We both know that. You're leaving for Smackdown tomorrow and if he's still here alone with me—"

"I am not jealous!" Mark snarled. "You're not worth getting jealous over James so shut the fuck up!"

Jeff saw what almost appeared to be a look of hurt flash through James's eyes, but that didn't last for long. The hurt was soon replaced by anger and spite. "Fine," he said. "If you want to be that way, then the boy will stay. Forget me trying to kick him out for your sake. Let's see how not jealous you really are." Smirking, James went off to a different part of the house, leaving Mark to stand near the door, absolutely fuming.

Knowing that this was probably not a good idea, Jeff slowly headed back down the stairs. "Mark? Are you okay?"

"That man is fucking infuriating!" Mark snarled. He slammed the front door shut so hard that it rattled the windows in the living room. "First it's all "I don't like Jeff. I don't like that fucking twink". Then it's "I want to fuck Jeff. I want to see if he's a screamer". And now he's not ever going to let this jealousy thing go because he wants to be right when he is so obviously not right! I am not jealous!"

"Are you sure?" Jeff asked slowly. He had never seen Mark this upset before. It made him feel even worse because he knew that it was at least partly his fault.

Mark didn't answer him. He just grumbled under his breath before storming off. Jeff stood there for a little while before going upstairs to the bedroom he was supposed to have slept in the previous night. It probably would have been better if he just left, but he couldn't. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go.

With nothing else to do, he just laid down and tried to go to sleep. Sleep did not want to come though. His mind would just not leave him alone. Everything was bombarding him at once. The day he and Matt had met Tom, the moment he realized Tom had fallen for him and he had fallen in love with him too, leaving Tom for Jack Tyler while Tom was injured but not actually getting around to telling Tom about it till three months later, getting back together with Tom after his suicide attempt, Tom saving him when Jack tried to rape him, Tom proposing to him on national televison, the fights, the sex: everything and anything that remotely had to do with Tom went through his mind for hours. Somewhere along the line, Jeff heard another screaming match going on between Mark and James. They had to have been quite a ways from his room because he could barely make out the words, but he could tell that it was bad.

He didn't know how he did it, but he must have fallen asleep because he woke up with something being thrown on his face. "OW!" he yelped as he opened his eyes. "What the hell was that?"

"Pop Tarts," James answered. He picked the box up and hit Jeff with it again. "You need to eat. We didn't feed you last night."

Jeff grumbled under his breath and sat up. "Why can't you ever wake me up nicely?" he asked as he opened up the box of pastry goodness.

James shrugged. "I don't know."

Well that was a bad answer. "Where's Mark?" Jeff asked, changing the subject.

"He left," James replied. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "He wasn't supposed to leave for Smackdown till this afternoon but he stormed out at about three this morning. I don't know where the hell he went." And from the tone of his voice, he didn't seem to care. "Fucking bastard. I just about killed him. I admitted to him being right about something and he can't even do the same thing for me. I even tried to just shut you out of the fucking house when you came over yesterday because I was trying not to hurt him, but no! He's the big bad fucking Undertaker who doesn't give a damn about anyone else." He snorted. "He's a fucking liar and a hypocrite. One minute he can't stop pointing out the fact that I want to fuck you, the next he's saying why I shouldn't fuck you and then he doesn't care what I do…" He chuckled bitterly and punched the wall so hard that he almost put a hole through it. "Well fuck him. He can go fucking die in a ditch for all I care right now. Fucking asshole. Tells me I'm not worth all this shit and tries to make me feel bad. I'll fucking make him feel worse than he could ever make me. I'll fucking put him in the ground if he comes over later and starts that shit again."

Jeff stared at James with wide eyes. The older man didn't really seem to be talking to him anymore. He was talking to himself more than anyone else. "Maybe if you just calmed down—"

"I am calm," James snapped irritably. "Can't you fucking tell?"

"Hey, don't snap at me! You're the one who ruined my marriage and now won't tell my husband that it was your fault!"

James burst out laughing. "Don't start that bullshit with me Twinky Dink. I am not the kind to be guilt tripped into doing anything because I don't feel guilty. You had to be so fucking irresistible and I didn't even do half of what I could have done to you. That hand job was nothing. "

"It wasn't nothing," Jeff said stubbornly. "You…you just…I…" He let out a frustrated yell and threw the pop tarts right back at James because he couldn't form a coherent sentence.

James rolled his eyes. "Very mature. But you want to know what? If you had at least tried to say no yesterday, I would be talking to Tom right now. I might not have stopped myself then, but I would admit to doing it against your will. But you didn't do that. You kissed me back, you didn't try to push me away, which meant you wanted it."

Jeff glared at him. "Fuck you," he said defiantly. He turned on his heels and took two steps towards the door. Before his foot could try and take the third step, his wrist was grabbed and he was pulled back towards James roughly. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice cracking because it felt like his wrist was about to get broken. "Let go of me!"

James smirked before shoving him forward and slamming him up against the wall. Jeff almost let out a whimper of pain but it got stuck when he looked at James's eyes. They were unlike anything he had ever seen before. They were so dark and added to the aura of danger he already projected with just his size. Jeff found himself getting weak in the knees and his heart started pounding really hard inside of his chest.

"I think we both know that you don't want me to let you go Twinky Dink," James said. He looked amused by that knowledge. "I think you might have a little bit of a masochist side that is just begging to get out."

"Do not," Jeff denied, although he wasn't sure if that was a lie or the truth.

James chuckled before grabbing a hold of Jeff's hair and yanking on it really tightly. Jeff found himself letting out a moan instead of a scream, which was taken by James as an invitation to kiss him. The kiss was just as hard and demanding as it was yesterday, and despite knowing that it probably was not the best idea in the world to go with, Jeff started kissing him back. His mouth got completely dominated despite his best efforts, but he found that that didn't bother him all that much. In fact, he actually kind of enjoyed it.

The sound of tearing fabric filled the room as James ripped Jeff's shirt right off his body. "Hey!" Jeff protested weakly as the remains of it were tossed across the room. "I actually had liked that shirt!"

"You've got others," James replied. He took his own shirt off and before he began attacking Jeff's neck with his mouth, Jeff could see that his body was covered with various nasty looking scars. Normally he would ask about them, but at the moment, his head was spinning too much to even form that question.

James bit down really hard, breaking the skin and causing Jeff to bleed. Jeff let out a yelp of pain. "James! That fucking hurt!"

"Well no shit Sherlock," James replied. He literally tossed Jeff on to the bed and basically pounced on him just as he rolled over on his back. "It was supposed to do that."

Jeff didn't have much of a chance to pout. His jeans were being taken off rather roughly and James was distracting him by squeezing his arms hard enough to leave bruises and biting not only his neck, but his chest and stomach too now. And the amazing thing was, the pain was just making him that much harder. "Oh fuck," he whimpered as James started to bite at his thighs. He arched his hips up in an attempt to get James to pay attention to his aching member. "James please…I can't…I need—"

"I know what you need," James said. He began kissing and biting his way back up Jeff's body (much to Jeff's disappointment) while discarding his own jeans. "Don't you worry about that." He kissed Jeff again and Jeff found himself getting so lost in the kiss that he didn't realize that it was a distraction to what James was really up to.

Jeff let out a scream as James entered him with one very swift and violent motion. He closed his eyes tightly, tears almost threatening to fall at any second. That had fucking hurt. He dug his nails into James's backs, trying to relax so he could adjust to James's size.

James chuckled. "So you are a screamer. I was wondering about that."

Jeff had barely adjusted when James pulled almost all the way out and then slammed back in. He screamed again, although he found a little bit of pleasure in the pain this time. Panting for breath, he wrapped his legs around James and bit down on the larger man's shoulder until the pain subsided and all there was left was the pleasure.

James fucked Jeff at a brutal pace, pinning his hands down above his head and refusing to pay attention to the aching member that was dying to be touched. Jeff whined and moaned loudly, his senses absolutely on fire. The bite marks he had been covered in hurt like hell, both of his wrists felt like they could accidentally (or maybe not so accidentally) get snapped and he had the most painful hard on of his life. But it was all worth it every time James hit his prostate because the waves of pleasure that went through him when that happened were fucking indescribable.

"James…so close…please…fuck!" Jeff shouted. His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head and his body trembled uncontrollably as he came all over James's chest and stomach.

James came just seconds later, and he finally let go of Jeff's wrists. Both of them just stared at each other for a long time before James finally got off of him completely. "I'm going to call in for some pizza," he said as he threw his clothes back on. "You might as well come down and join me."

Jeff watched him leave, way too sore to try and even sit up yet. "He didn't just have to leave," he muttered under his breath. Physically that had been beyond satisfying, but he almost felt abandoned by James's sudden departure. Sighing to himself, he stared up at the ceiling and waited for the soreness to go away enough for him to move right and tried to ignore how lonely he suddenly felt on the inside.

….

By no means was Matt "Jeopardy!" material, but sometimes he was right. Thankfully, this was one of those instances, Tom rejoiced, clutching his life in his hand. Not only had Matt's doctor concluded that Youngblood was a quack, but he'd also given Tom clearance to return to the ring immediately. He was feeling a hell of a lot better about his life—until he saw Mark's bike in the parking lot that is. Even when he was on the road, Mark rented a motorcycle.

"Fuck." Tom groaned, Why couldn't I make my return to RAW?

"Relax." Matt said "I'll run interference if I hafta. You go talk to JR."

"Thanks. It's good to know there's someone who isn't trying to screw me over."

….

Jim Ross was in his office, checking over the final run sheet for that nights Smackdown and ECW shows, when Tom barged in without knocking. He slapped his release onto his desk. "I want Mark in the ring. Tonight!"


	6. The Rematch

It was J.R. himself that told Mark who he would be facing that night. While he made sure not to react much at all when he was told the news, on the inside he was shocked as hell. Tom's career was supposed to have been over. The hell in a cell match had killed his knee and that was supposed to have been the end of the story. Only now the story had not only started yet again, but a brand new fucked up chapter had been written thanks to Jeff and James.

Mark wasn't stupid. He knew that revenge for the injury wasn't the only thing that was going to be on Tom's mind tonight. If it was just that, then he would only have to worry about the match turning into a straight up fight. But he knew that Tom was going to hold him at least partly responsible for the mess that had gone down yesterday, and that was going to the fight into all out chaos. And chaos was not what he needed when it was all he could do to stay awake.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly. He needed sleep and he needed it badly. He hadn't slept after he stormed out during his fight with James. He had been too angry for that. And even though he knew he should have gotten some sleep during the day, he hadn't even tried. He just kept hearing James's voice in his head and it was irritating the fuck out of him. And to make things even worse, he knew he had said some things that were probably still bothering James even now, so he felt guilty on top of everything else. He wished he didn't feel that way, but he couldn't make it go away. It was driving him insane.

Grumbling under his breath, he eyed his cell phone carefully. Part of him wanted to call James. He didn't want to keep fighting with his longtime companion. He knew that he really should just be the bigger man and just apologize and admit that James was right. He was jealous of James wanting to fuck Jeff. If he could just admit it right now, he could possibly get James to not only not do it again, but get Jeff and Tom back together so they could all move on with their lives. For a psychopathic murderer, James occasionally had the ability to save other people's relationships instead of just destroying them.

But just as he picked up his phone and press the first number on his speed dial, he changed his mind. He knew that if James was feeling spiteful, he would talk about how he had fucked Jeff (honestly, that had to have happened by now, especially with the way last night had gone) and Mark knew that his temper would get the best of him yet again, and he would start yet another screaming match. That potential screaming match would cause him to going home to strangle James instead of wrestling Tom. _Although that right there seems more appealing than this match does,_ he thought to himself as he finished changing into his ring gear. _James drives me absolutely fucking insane, but I'd rather deal with him because I at least might get sex out of the deal. I don't see that happening with Tom any time soon._

….

"Are you positively sure that you want to do this?" Matt asked. "Because it's not too late to just give up your pride and run screaming for the hills."

Tom kept putting on his ring gear even though the whole hills idea didn't sound half bad. "You know I have to do this. I've been waiting for this since the hell in a cell match."

Matt nodded. "I know you have bro, but I'm not sure if tonight's the right now. Everyone's been saying that Mark was in a foul mood when he got here and I'm sure him finding out he's facing you has helped matters."

"Well it's not like I'm in the mood to jump for joy so he can just get over it." Tom finished with his ring gear and began stretching his legs out. His knee was feeling pretty good, although he was sure Mark would do everything in his power to change that.

"So have you called him?"

"Who?" Tom played dumb even though he knew exactly who Matt was talking about.

Matt smacked him on the back of the head. "Tom don't start that shit. I know you better than that."

Tom sighed. "What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry I freaked out and kicked you out of the house because you got a hand job from somebody that I don't like?"

"Well you don't have to word it exactly like that but something along those lines would be a good start."

Tom sat down on the nearest chair. He was feeling guilty about his reaction to the whole thing. He should have at least heard Jeff out and not kicked him out of the house. But because it was James, he had freaked. And now he was kicking himself in the ass for it. "Do you think he would answer the phone if I called?"

Matt shrugged and checked his watch. "I don't know about the answering thing, but I do know that you won't have time for the proper conversation right now. Your match is coming up pretty quickly here."

Tom bit his lip. He was tempted to say to hell with the match and just go and try to work things out with Jeff. Matt had been right all along: he did want his husband back. There were a thousand things he wanted to say to Jeff at the moment: he was sorry for kicking him out, he was sorry for being away so much, he was sorry for letting his stubbornness and his temper get in the way of their relationship…the list was just went on and on.

Matt patted him on the shoulder. He was giving his older brother a sympathetic look. "Call him after the match," he said. "I know he'll talk to you."

"Yeah, like I deserve that," Tom muttered. He went back to stretching his legs out. "I'll be lucky if he even thinks about speaking to me in the near future."

"Look, you both have fucked up here. You reacted in a bad way and he put himself in that situation in the first place. You are away too much but he also needs to understand that you're trying to support both of you so you guys can have a life together. And he also needs to understand that hanging around someone as obviously unstable as James is going to have some consequences. There's blame on both sides here, but both of you are too fucking stupid and stubborn to understand that." Matt folded his arms over his chest. "That's why I'm here. I'm here to be the voice of reason and to give both of you a good kick in the ass."

Tom almost chuckled. "Thanks…I think."

"Any time bro." Matt glanced at the door. "You should probably—"

"Yeah I know," Tom said. He got up out of the chair. "I should start heading towards the curtain. You want to stand by in case anything goes wrong?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Did you even have to ask?" He picked up the chair Tom had just been sitting on and folded it up. "I'll be the first one out there in case Mark tries anything funny."

Tom did manage to grin just a little bit. "Okay then. Let's get this shit over with."

…..

Smackdown was on the TV but Jeff hadn't been paying much attention to it. He was having a hard time concentrating. James's boys Connor and Cooper had come over and they were both creeping him out. Connor kept getting really close to him and then every time Jeff asked him what he wanted, he just giggled and ran away. And then Cooper just kept looking at Jeff and laughing to himself. Jeff had tried to ask what was so fucking funny, but he never got an answer out of the younger man. It was beyond frustrating.

Sighing, he got up and went into the kitchen. He didn't know what to do or think anymore. His heart wanted Tom and his body was craving James again, which was just making his brain hurt like hell. He still did love Tom; he couldn't deny that. Despite the way their last conversation had ended, the love he felt towards his husband wasn't going to go away anytime soon. But James was just so fucking alluring that it was hard for him to resist it. James was danger personified and he was also so rough and violent with his passion that it felt like a drug to Jeff. He shivered at the thought of their encounter earlier in the day. Yet the way James had just walked away from him afterwards…it made him feel like a cheap fuck and he did not like feeling like that at all. _Tom never made me feel like that. He never would do that to me._

James was in the kitchen already, looking at his cell phone when Jeff got in there. "Can we talk?" Jeff asked hesitantly.

"Fucking bastard probably won't answer," James muttered. He wasn't even listening to Jeff. "I don't know why I let him bother me. He's a jackass anyway."

"James?"

James looked up at Jeff. "Hey twink," he said distractedly.

"Can we talk?" Jeff asked again. "You know…about earlier."

James shrugged. "There's nothing really to talk about. We fucked and that's that." He frowned as he saw the look on Jeff's face. "Oh fuck, I knew this was going to happen."

Jeff glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked angrily.

"You're getting all pissy and upset."

"Because you used me!"

"I didn't use you. If I had used you, I would have tossed your ass out of this house immediately after we were done."

Jeff folded his arms over his chest. "You just abandoned me right afterwards. It was like you didn't even care."

James stared at him incredulously. "Jesus Twinky Dink, don't start trying to throw feelings into this fucked up mess. You were just saying not that long ago that I needed to fix things between you and Tom. Why do you even give a shit that I didn't like snuggle or do any mushy crap with you afterwards? I thought you loved your husband."

"I do," Jeff said.

"Then why are you bitching at me right now?"

"I don't know!" Jeff said helplessly. He leaned back against the refrigerator and buried his face in his hands. He felt so confused and guilty about this whole thing. He felt guilty about cheating on Tom yet he felt hurt that James was acting so cold—and that hurt feeling was making him feel even more guilty for giving a damn about that. "You made my head all confused. Why are you doing this to me?"

"I could ask you the same thing Twinky Dink," James said. "You're not the only one whose head is getting screwed with here."

Jeff took his face out of his hands and looked at James. The older man's expression had softened very slightly. "Really?" Jeff said curiously.

James nodded. "You have no idea how crazy you've been driving me twink. It's so annoying."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. Then he thought about it. "No, wait, no I'm not. I'm glad. I think. Maybe."

James raised his eyebrows. "Well which is it?"

"I don't know. Is that bad?"

"Probably, but oh well."

"Dad!" Cooper yelled all of a sudden. "Jeff! You two might want to come out here. You're not going to believe who Mark's opponent is right now."

James's eyes darkened so fast that Jeff took a step back. "Why would I give a shit about Mark right now?" he asked.

"Just come here damn it! Or at least send Jeff out here!"

Now way beyond curious, Jeff went back into the living room (he was followed by James, who was muttering all kinds of obscenities under his breath). They both took one look at who was coming out to the ring and just froze in their tracks. "Holy shit," James muttered. "What the fuck is this?"

"He's back," Cooper said in a sing song voice.

Jeff could hardly believe what he was seeing. "Tom!" he exclaimed. "But…he never…what's going on?"

Connor giggled happily. "Two men enter…both want to kill each other…this is going to be fun."

James and Jeff took seats; James smirking with the thoughts that Mark might take care of one of his problems permanently and Jeff fearful that he might be attending a funeral in the near future. He swallowed nervously when he saw the look James was giving the TV screen.

In the ring, Mark and Tom stared each other down. Mark was trying to focus on the match. Despite his lack of sleep, he was still the Deadman and the fans expected him to dominate and dominate he would. Just barely hearing anything the referee was saying, Mark stared at his opponent; a man he never expected to set foot in the ring again. Mark's mind drifted back to their last encounter... yes, it had been an accident, but Tom's had refused to believe that, and even now Mark could sense the anger radiating from Tom.

The bell finally rang to start the match. Mark waited, expecting Tom to make the first move, but Tom wasn't going to be that stupid. They finally met in the middle of the ring, nose to nose, and started yelling at each other.

"Come on, Hardy, do something." Mark growled "Let me finish this fast. I gotta other things to deal with."

"In your dreams, Deadman." Tom retorted "I'm takin' you out the same way you took me out and then I'm gonna deal with James and Jeff myself."

"Even if I let you get within a hundred yards of James, what makes you think you'd have a chance?"

Even the fans at ringside thought this was just pre-match blustering. JR and Grisham had done a good job playing up the return angle as nothing more than revenge for the Hell in the Cell incident.

"Whatever." Tom hauled off and punched Mark in the face. Mark laughed. The odd time he'd let James hit him, whether by surprise or during their lovemaking, he'd hit with ten times the force. Tom shrugged off that he'd just hit Mark as hard as he could and it had done nothing, and he punched him again. And again. And again. He was not pulling any of these shots, yet Mark showed no effects, other than to yawn (and that was purely out of tiredness, not boredom), then slug Tom with one of his own black-gloved punches. Tom's head snapped back, but other than that, Mark's punch had as little effect as Tom's.

They traded punches back and forth several times, and even the ref had enough brains not to warn them, neither try to get in between. In plain English, his instructions were to "let them fight... count a three... then get the hell out of there.""

From backstage, Matt watched intently, joined by the entire SD roster, as well as some of the ECW guys.

"May be a short comeback." CM Punk smirked, wrapping his wrists.

"Fuck you, Phil." Matt barked. His own issues with the Straight-Edge superstar aside, he did not want to be distracted in case Mark did try something funny.

Both fighters soon realized that any resemblance to an actual wrestling match ended with their entrances. Closed fists, low blows, and Mark even tried to lock in the Hell's Gate. Tom countered by going low and working on Mark's leg... a little retribution for earlier.

Repeated elbow drops right into the joint and Mark was writhing on the mat. Ignoring Mark's yells of pain, Tom stepped over and quickly locked in the figure-four leglock.

Mark yelled again. He'd been put in the figure-four countless time in his career, yet it had never hurt this badly before. It felt like someone had wrapped it with barbed wire and was tightening it. Tom grinned. Mark wanted to tap out, but damn it he was the Undertaker, the Phenom, and pain wasn't supposed to bother him, but fuck did that hurt. Several times, Mark collapsed in pain on the mat, and several times he was almost counted out.

Seeing that Mark refused to end this the way Tom wanted, he broke the hold, only to put on a headlock.

"Now that I have you... maybe we can talk like gentlemen." Tom said

"What the.... ahhhh!" Tom leaned back, putting more pressure on the hold.

"What I meant was I'll do the talking and you do the listening." Tom stated "Now you and I both have a problem with James."

"James does his own thing... he rarely listens to me!" Mark's head pounded.

"Well you better find a way to make him listen." Tom demanded, cinching the hold in tighter.

With a supreme effort, Mark rolled his shoulder, putting his entire weight on Tom's chest, forcing him to break the hold. Suddenly being in control of the match, Mark felt empowered. He went back on the offense, going old school with several shots to Tom's knee, a flying clothesline, walking the top rope, and a choke slam. Instead of going for the tombstone, Mark, fuelled by anger, looked to dish out more pain to Tom and looked around for just the right implement to do so. He found it; climbing out of the ring, he grabbed a steel chair, and held it aloft.

"Fuck that!" Matt grabbed his own chair and raced down to the ring. Mark was to involved in wrapping the chair around Tom's leg, the one he'd 'accidentally' damaged the last time they'd met, to notice the sudden interruption. He bounced off the ropes, preparing to leg drop the chair and snap Tom's ankle, when Matt greeted him with a chair to the face.

_What the fuck?_ Mark thought. _Now I have the entire Hardy family on my back?_ He felt something wet trickle down his forehead and he wiped it away with his hand. It was blood, no surprise there. _That mother fucker's got a lot to..._ The rest of that thought never made it to his brain when Matt knocked him for another loop.

….

Jeff put his hand over his mouth as he watched Matt hit Mark with the chair a second time. Mark was bleeding and it looked really bad. But the thing he couldn't get over was the fact that before Matt had interrupted the proceedings, Mark had actually been looking to re-injure Tom. After the Hell in a Cell match, Mark had sworn that injuring Tom had been an accident. But after seeing what the Deadman had intended to do, Jeff wasn't so sure if he believed that anymore.

"Holy shit!" Cooper exclaimed. "How the hell did we all forget about Matt? Jesus, he fucked Mark up really badly!"

A terrible growl scared Jeff half to death. He looked over and saw an absolutely murderous look in James's eyes. Before he could say anything however, James was on his feet and storming out the front door. Connor started laughing uncontrollably while Cooper got a worried look on his face.

"Oh shit," Cooper muttered. "Connor, Twink, we're going to have to follow him. I don't know if we're going to be able to stop him, but we're going to have to try so he doesn't do anything too stupid."

"What do you mean?" Jeff asked as he got up. "Where is he going? What is he going to do?"

"Well let's just say that if Dad gets his hand on Matt, you're going to be finding your brother in pieces."

Jeff gulped. He could tell Cooper was not fucking around when he said that. _Oh God, please let us get there in time, please don't let James get Matty please please please…_


	7. No Easy Fixes

"Where is he?" Tom asked. He was trying to get around Matt, who was doing everything in his power to hold him back. "Where the fuck is he?"

"Tom just calm down," Matt pleaded. He was fighting a losing battle with his enraged older brother. "I made the save just like I said I would. Let's just drop it."

"Just drop it?" Tom yelled. He could have smacked Matt right then and there. "How can you even suggest that? It wasn't you he was trying to put back on the disabled list." He shoved Matt to the side and started storming through the backstage area. He decided to go check the trainer's room for Mark. He knew that the Deadman was famous for not letting himself get checked over, but since Matt had managed to bust the asshole open, this had probably been one of the times that the officials had forced Mark to go see the trainer.

Matt chased after him. He wasn't giving up in trying to make Tom not do this. "What is another confrontation going to do?" he asked. "I mean, you two just about killed each other out there in the ring. Do you really think that this is going to do any good?"

Tom was too angry to think about much of anything at the moment. He was aware of the consequences of another confrontation but he didn't care. He would deal with them when they came. Muttering under his breath, he opened the door to the trainer's room and saw that Mark was getting stitched up in there. Without a moment's hesitation, he tossed the trainer out on his ass and then shut and locked the door before Matt could come in.

Mark glared at him angrily. "Your dumbass brother better fucking run, because I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him."

"You keep the fuck away from him," Tom snarled. "You've done more than enough damage already."

Mark rolled his eyes and touched his forehead gingerly. "You could have at least let the bastard finish stitching me up. Its common courtesy to do that you know."

Tom chuckled in disbelief. Was the bastard actually talking to him about common courtesy right now? After the wars they had been through? No, Tom did not give a shit about common courtesy because he knew Mark wouldn't give a shit about it if their situation was reversed. "Fuck you Mark," he snapped. He grabbed the thread that was still hanging from Mark's forehead and yanked on it, tearing out the stitches that had been put in place.

Mark let out a yell of pain and shoved Tom away. "Mother fucker!" He grabbed a towel and pressed it up against his forehead, which was bleeding once again now. "Just because I would do something like that doesn't mean you get to do it!"

Tom crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll keep that in mind in case I decide to care sometime in the future."

Mark muttered a few choice cuss words as he tried to stop the bleeding. "What the fuck do you want asshole?" he asked. He sounded completely exhausted and now that Tom looked closely, the Deadman really did look like he was near death. "Is this about Jeff and James? Because I already told you that he doesn't listen to me."

"Then make him listen," Tom ordered. "You're the Undertaker. People fucking listen to you."

Mark almost laughed. "James isn't like everyone else. He's not afraid of me like the majority of the assholes here. He can't be reasoned with and he cannot be told what to do. There is something about Jeff that has him even more captivated than even he realizes." He took the towel away from his head and looked at it before looking back at Tom. "And it didn't fucking help when we had to save Jeff after we were done drinking that night. I think it gave your twink of a husband the wrong impression about the kind of man James really is."

Now Tom was really confused. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Mark sighed and threw the towel down to the floor. "I'm going to tell you this story once, so you better pay attention right now asshole. Jeff and Shannon came to the biker bar James and I usually hang out at. Shannon left after awhile and I invited Jeff over to have drinks. I knew the little shit would get himself into trouble by himself and besides from that, James had been staring at him like an idiot but wouldn't admit that he was attracted to him. I had just been trying to pull him out of his funk and drive him as nuts as he usually drives me. Anyway, after we were done drinking, Jeff went to go walk home. James and I got into a little argument in the parking lot, so we got delayed. That turned out to be a good thing because we were the ones who heard Jeff screaming."

Tom clenched his fists tightly. He was trying to resist the urge to hit Mark. He had no idea what the bastard had been thinking in letting Jeff try to walk home from a biker bar, but he knew if he asked, the two of them would be in another fist fight.

"He was getting attacked by two dudes in an alley. James distracted the idiots by beating the shit out of them and I got Jeff out of there. Jeff didn't want to come home because he didn't want to fight with you so we took him with us instead. Nothing actually happened that night beyond him sleeping in the same bed as us because he had a nightmare and he used James as a pillow."

Tom looked away. He didn't want to hear about his husband taking to James in any way, shape or form. That would not help matters at all.

Mark shook his head. "Jeff's really naïve sometimes Tom. We all know that. James took on the two guys in that alley and Jeff took it as a sign of James being his protector or some shit like that. But the truth is, James wouldn't have saved him if I hadn't been there too. That's just not his nature."

"Why didn't you tell Jeff that then?" Tom asked.

Mark shrugged. "Jeff can be just as stubborn as you and Matt when he wants to be. Besides, he was too drunk during the night and after I came back from going out the next morning, the hand job had taken place, James had stormed off and Jeff definitely wasn't in the mood to talk." He smirked at Tom just a little bit. "Did you know Jeff came to us after you kicked him out? He's been with James this entire time and I know Lawson has had his way with the boy by now."

Tom's eyes widened. He had not been aware of that. "Son of a fucking bitch," he muttered. "I've got to go."

Mark grunted and began chasing after him. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You don't even know where James lives you idiot!"

That was a good point. Tom turned around and grabbed Mark by the wrist so he could drag him along. "You're taking me to him then," he growled.

"Like hell I am!" Mark snapped. He yanked himself free from Tom's grip. "You fucking don't tell me what to do."

Tom was losing control of his temper. "Does Lawson have you whipped or something? Are you really going to stand by and let him fuck someone else? Is that how much you hate me? Do you hate me so bad that you're going to let that freak do whatever he wants to my husband?"

"What the hell else am I supposed to do?" Mark yelled. He threw up his hands in frustration. "He won't listen to me! He does what he wants when he wants, and half the time he does shit he knows pisses me off just for the fun of it! He knows I didn't want him to fuck Jeff yet instead of just not doing it, he just took what I wanted and tried to manipulate me with it. Now I know he's fucked Jeff partly just to spite me, and that's going to turn into another fight. I can't fucking win with him! No matter what I do, I'm the bad guy in the situation." He kicked wall before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against it.

Tom just stared at Mark. He didn't want to admit it, but he sympathized with the Deadman at the moment. He understood exactly what Mark was feeling. It was the same way with him and Jeff sometimes. Jeff could be the one in the wrong but Tom always found himself apologizing for stuff. It was a cycle that sometimes never seemed to want to end.

Mark took his head away from the wall and sighed. He looked less like the big bad Undertaker and more like a guy who had been driven to the brink of insanity by his own lover. "What the fuck am I supposed to do Hardy?" he asked. "James just keeps pushing me and pushing me and even when I push back I don't win. What the fuck am I supposed to do about this?"

Tom shook his head. "I have no idea," he admitted. He finally unclenched his fists and leaned up against the wall. Despite the fact he did still hate Mark, he couldn't help but feel kind of bad for the guy. James sounded like he was almost impossible to put up with. "I'm still trying to figure out what to do about Jeff and myself, so I can't even begin to try to tell you what you and James should do."

Mark sighed. "Thanks for nothing Hardy." He ran his hand through his hair. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. "So if you want Jeff back—"

"I do," Tom said, even though it almost sounded like a lie to his own ears. The image of James fucking Jeff was burning itself into his brain and it was almost more than he could stand. As much as he wanted to just forgive and forget, he couldn't put up with this. If Jeff went off and did shit with another guy every time they had a fight, he would go absolutely insane. _If he tried to resist, it'll be okay,_ he told himself. _If he at least said no then there won't be a problem. James is definitely the type to take what he wants regardless of what anyone else says._ "And you want James back for whatever reason—"

"God help me, I can't even begin to understand why I do," Mark muttered. He shook his head. "The question becomes, how the hell do we the get the psycho and the twink separated?"

"Don't call Jeff a twink," Tom said, partly in defense of Jeff and partly just to have something to snap at Mark.

Mark rolled his eyes. "I'll call your husband whatever I want boy. You—" He was interrupted by his cell phone. "Hello?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw Matt peeking from around the corner to see what was going on. Tom motioned for his brother to get lost so Mark wouldn't see him and beat the shit out of him. Luckily, Mark was too distracted by the phone call he was receiving to notice. Unfortunately, the phone call seemed to be the bearer of some bad news.

"Son of a bitch!" Mark yelled. He hung up the phone and literally grabbed Tom by the collar of his shirt. "Come on Hardy. We've got a problem."

Tom wasn't sure what the fuck the problem was, but he did know that he didn't like being literally dragged along like a rag doll. He looked back and saw Matt was following them now, obviously thinking that there was going to be some kind of trouble. In a way, he turned out to be right, but it wasn't Mark causing the trouble.

The first thing Tom saw as Mark dragged him outside to the parking lot was a whole host of unconscious security guards. The second thing he saw was Jeff and two other guys unsuccessfully trying to pull James away from the arena. "Jeff!" he exclaimed. "What the hell is going on?"

Jeff almost fell on his ass as James yanked himself free from his grip. "Tom he's mad at Matt for hitting Mark with the chair!" he cried out. "I don't want him to hurt Matty. Make him not hurt Matty."

Of course, at that moment, Matt came outside to see what the hell was going on. James let out an animalistic growl and lunged at him. Before Tom could move a muscle, Mark was lunging back and the two men were on the ground, Mark barely restraining James. "Connor! Cooper! Now would be the time to help me!" Mark yelled.

Connor and Cooper jumped into the fray, although they were obviously no match for James without Mark. Tom saw Jeff almost jumping in there too and he put a stop to that. "Oh hell no," he said as he grabbed his husband and pulling him back. "If he hurts you, I'll have to shoot him, so let's not do that."

Jeff gulped. "But maybe I could calm him down."

"And maybe pigs could fly out of all of our asses," Matt pointed out. "Jeff, you're staying out of the way and that's final."

"Get off of me!" James shouted. "What the fuck is your problem Mark?"

"I've told you a thousand times you can't pull these stunts while I'm at work!" Mark replied. "Are you trying to get me fired? You know Vince banned you these events years ago and if you're seen here by anyone, you're going to get arrested!"

"So I'm supposed to just stand by and let little punks beat you with chairs? Is this how it's going to be now?"

"Don't start that shit James. I don't want to fight with you."

"Well you have a pretty fucking funny way of showing it."

"That's because you're being psycho right now, you jackass!"

"I think now is about the time we should leave them alone," Matt said wisely. He grabbed Jeff and Tom by the back of their shirts and started pulling them back. "Obviously they have some things to discuss."

Tom looked at Jeff. "Yeah, I think we do too."

The trio walked back into the arena and sought out someplace private to talk. Matt quickly excused himself. He still had a match that night and had yet to change into his ring gear.

"If you need the favor repaid, let me know." Tom said

"Bro, Phil's gonna tap out tonight, don't worry. You got bigger things to deal with." Matt answered

Jeff and Tom stared at each other in silence, neither man being able to put his feelings into words.

"Is this the point where I'm supposed to apologize?" Tom asked "Again?"

"Tommy, I..." For once, Jeff was at a loss for words.

"If you're going to say you didn't mean to hurt me, then don't because I am not going to believe you this time." Tom was still extremely pissed off over everything that had gone on over the past few days. "I will take part blame for this mess, but it's gonna take me a while to get over the betrayal."

"I never meant for this to happen!" Jeff protested

"Did you tell him no?" Tom asked

Jeff hesitated. Had he? He couldn't recall for sure. He'd been so drunk that night that the encounter had seemed more like a very vivid dream.

"I don't remember?" Jeff replied, it sounding more a question.

"You don't remember." Tom ran his hands through his still-sweaty hair. "Our marriage is hanging by a fucking thread and you don't fucking remember?"

"Tommy, don't yell at me. Please." Jeff whimpered

"Jeff, the reason I wanted to talk to you is I wanted to try to forget this whole incident. But now I see that maybe you don't want to."

"Tommy, Imma love you. It was a mistake." Jeff pleaded, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"What kind of person do you take me for?" Tom glared at his soon-to-be ex-husband at the rate things were going. "Do you see the word 'stupid' tattooed on my forehead... do you?"

"N-n-no." Jeff stammered, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

"I can forgive the hand job and I was ready to until Mark told me about what else happened between you and that psycho. Let me guess... the word 'no' was not used then either?"

Jeff stared at the floor. Any hopes he'd had of this ending both quickly and well were disappearing faster than a post-coital erection.

"I thought so." Tom yanked his wedding band off his finger and whipped it at Jeff. It struck his chest and clanged to the floor.

"Tommers, that's a fifteen thousand dollar ring." Jeff picked it up.

"And it means about as much to me as you do right now." Tom grabbed Jeff by the arm and pulled him out into the corridor. Ignoring the stares of his co-workers, he dragged Jeff, who was kicking, screaming, and promising to be good like a nine-year-old, into the parking lot, where Mark, Connor, and Cooper were still working to calm James down.

"Hey, Lawson!" Tom shouted

"What the fuck?" Were it not for the quick actions of Mark and the boys, James might have done something regrettable.

"You want him... you can have him! Hell, all three of you can have him because Jeffrey Nero Hardy, I want a divorce!" Tom pushed Jeff toward the quartet of angry men, then turned on his heel and went back inside.

Mark was the most shocked of all of them, and more than a little pissed off. "Don't do anything stupid, any of you! I'll be right back!"

Leaving a hysterically sobbing Jeff in the company of James was not something he'd normally do, but he hoped that Connor and Cooper would be able to at least stop James from brutally fucking Jeff in the middle of the parking lot.

"Hardy!" Mark stomped after Tom, who was doing his best to ignore him. Other than flipping him off over his shoulder, he seemed to be ignoring Mark.

Production personnel, crew members, and even othr wrestlers gave them a wide berth when they stormed past. Even Glenn and Khali backed away when they saw Mark's expression.

"Hardy! Get the fuck back here asshole. I'm not finished with you!" Mark bellowed

Tom turned to face Mark. "Well I am. I'm finished with you, Jeff, this sorry excuse for a life I have, everything. Unless you want me to go psycho on your ass, stay the hell away! That goes double for the rest of your brood!"

Mark's expression hardened. This was definitely NOT going the way he'd hoped. If he was going to get James back, he was going to have to change Tom's attitude and quickly. The one problem was how?


	8. Truce

_Sometimes you're better off dead... there's a gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head..._

Tom quickly tuned out the retro blasting from the jukebox and focused on the beer in front of him. Beer, the cause and solution of many of life's problems. He'd been drinking alone ever since he had terminated his marriage in a locker room at the arena then thrown his ex to the wolves. With the exception of two or three brave souls who had sought out his autograph, Tom had been left alone to wallow in his emotions and get really fucking drunk.

Suddenly the omnipresent mumble of conversation turned to gasps of shock.

"Ohmigod... it's the Undertaker!"

"What's he doing here?"

"I wonder if I can get his autograph too?"

Tom rolled his eyes into his head. Of all the gin joints in this town, Mark had to pick this one. Coincidence? Tom thought not.

After appeasing the several fans; probably the same ones who'd harrassed Tom earlier, Mark came over to the bar and ordered a beer.

Tom ignored him. Not real easy to do when you have a seven-foot monster of a man staring at you through the reflection in the mirror behind the bar.

"Fuck off, Callaway... can't you leave a guy alone?" When it became obvious that Mark wasn't going to go away on his own, Tom tried a more direct tactic.

"Hardy, it's not my fault you're such a fuckin' hothead." Mark answered.

"Don't start. I don't want to deal with you right now." Tom glared at him, red-eyed.

"You're gonna have to at some point." Mark shrugged

"At some point already occurred." Tom looked into his beer. "Or did they numb your brain when they put the stitches back in?"

Mark touched his forehead. "Your brother can really swing a chair when he gets pissed off. Fucking bastard will get his receipt soon enough."

"Unless you have something relevant to add, can you please just leave me alone?" Tom replied

"Tom, would you just shut your mouth for a second and listen to me?" Mark set his beer down and looked Tom right in the eyes.

"Why? Why the hell should I give two shits about what you have to say?"

"Because I'm hurting too." Mark replied softly. "I dunno what I am gonna do about James... we've been together since we were teenagers. I mean, he was my first love."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Tom answered, even though he actually had no idea that James had been Mark's first. He felt like he could say whatever he wanted because he was too drunk to give a shit.

"I need your help to get him back. My usual tactics are only making things worse this time." Mark exhaled loudly. "I know we're not exactly bro's, but I can't do this by myself."

"Mark, I..."

"You don't have to say yes right away, but I'd rather we discuss this somewhere else?" Mark asked hopefully.

Tom looked around. The packed bar was not the best place to have any sort of private conversation, unless Mark and Tom wanted Twitter to go crazy with rumors.

"My place or yours?" Tom asked

"Dumb question, Hardy." Mark answered "I don't even want to think about what James is up to right now."

"I'm sure it's no worse than what I'm thinking Jeff is doing." Tom drained the rest of his beer, then followed Mark outside.

"Climb on." Mark pointed to his bike.

"Dude, I got my car." Tom answered "Here." He scribbled his address on a slip of paper. "I'll meet you there in an hour."

As he drove home, Tom checked his phone for any messages. There was one from Jeff, which he deleted without even listening to, and one from Matt.

"What the hell happened? I just heard and I can't believe that it's over. I think you're both acting like fucking children, especially you. Jeff loves you and you know that. You also know that he tends to act before he thinks sometime. But it's your life and I hope you realize that this is gonna put me in a real awkward position. I'll talk to you later."

If Matt was in an awkward position, then Tom felt like a contortionist. Just yesterday, he was ripping stitches out of Mark's head, and now less than twenty-four hours later, he was having a secret meeting with him. Maybe Mark had an idea to get Jeff and James apart, or maybe he just wanted to fuck with Tom's mind some more.

"I'll find out soon enough." To Tom's surprise, Mark had beaten him home. He was staring at his own phone.

"Jackass won't even talk to me." He mumbled, unaware that Tom was standing beside him.

"What's this great plan of yours?" Tom demanded.

Mark jerked in surprise.

"Losing your touch, Deadman."

"I didn't expect you this fast." Mark quickly stuck the phone in his pocket.

"I live here. The day I can't get home in double-time is the day I stop driving a Viper and buy a Volkswagen." Tom led Mark into the house.

"Nice place."

"Thanks." Tom draped his jacket over the back of the sofa. "I'm sorta in flux right now."

"I can imagine." Mark noticed several blank spots on the wall, where pictures probably had hung.

"I had to. I can't bear to look at what used to be." Tom saw what Mark was staring at.

"Tom look, I know you're angry, hurt, frustrated, whatever, but deep down you want Jeff back as much as I want James." Mark looked into the smaller man's eyes.

"Just how do you propose to do this?" Tom asked.

"Simple. James thinks the reason I'm so jealous about his relationship with Jeff is because I am on the outside." Mark replied "It's the fuckin' truth, but there's no way I am going to admit that asshole is right."

"What do you plan to do about it?" Tom grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed one to Mark.

"I know James well enough to know that he thinks he's gonna be able to drop Jeff at any time and I'll come crawling back to him." Mark replied "But if I hooked up with someone else, it'll drive James nuts."

"And that someone is me, right?" Tom clarified.

"You're not as stupid as I thought." Mark laughed.

"I like the plan, but what about Jeff? No offense, but James is crazy. What's to stop him hurting Jeff to guilt you into going back?" He hated Jeff at that moment, but Tom did not like to see anyone get hurt needlessly.

"Are you on good terms with Matt?"

"Depends on how badly you plan to hurt him." Tom shrugged.

Mark looked over. "How 'bout if I promise not to?"

"He was just watching my back and you fucking know it. Besides, if something does go wrong, Jeff will run crying to him." Tom replied.

"Then you'll help?"

"Mark you're right. I am hurt, but we're gonna have to take this real slow or even a dimbulb like James will see right through us." The pragmatist in Tom was already thinking about ways this might fail.

"That's the first thing you've said that I agree with in weeks." Exhilaration took over and Mark leaned against the wall.

"Besides," Tom emptied the beer. "I don't even know what you two did in bed." The gleam in his eyes was back.

"Not a whole fuckin' lot. I'd have to pretty much rape James just to get him to suck me off." Mark replied

"That's one thing you don't have to worry about. Your cock's in good hands with me." Tom chuckled, watching a bit of color go to Mark's cheeks.

"Tom, I..." Mark hadn't considered sex as part of the plan, but the more he thought about it, why not? If James could fuck a married twink, why the hell couldn't he have a little fun on the side as well?

"Another beer, Deadman?" Tom offered

Mark nodded.

Tom went back into the kitchen to get two more beers. Leaning against the refrigerator, he smiled broadly, then started to laugh.

"Everything okay in there?" He heard Mark ask.

Tom wiped the tears from his eyes. "Brilliant, Marky-Mark. Absolutely brilliant."

"Bitch don't call me Marky-Mark. I'll fucking crack that beer bottle over your fucking head."

"Is that any way to talk to your new pretend boyfriend?"

Mark could be heard using every obscenity known to man, which made Tom start laughing again. It was probably the booze talking, but this could turn out to be an okay plan after all.

..

"Mark's up to something," James muttered. "I know it. I just fucking know it. He hasn't been home you know. Not since the whole fucking thing at the arena. He hasn't called either. He's talked to Glenn but Glenn said I better be the one who calls first." He snorted. "It's like I'm the one who did something wrong here. What the fuck is that shit? I didn't do anything any other guy with a pulse wouldn't do." He chugged the rest of his bottle of Jack Daniels before tossing it across the room. "Glenn said Mark started drinking after the arena incident. And when Marky drinks and his usual tactics of making me behave haven't worked, he comes up with really fucked up schemes. He'll change the game on me and I don't like that. It puts me at the disadvantage."

The person James was talking too was a man he had kidnapped named Chase. He had met Chase at a club and dragged him off to an abandoned warehouse to have some fun with him. Of course, what James hadn't realized yet because he was so drunk, was the fact that he had actually killed Chase twenty minutes ago when he had stabbed him in the neck with an ice pick. So essentially, he was talking to himself.

"Tom threw Jeff to the wolves," James muttered. He played with the bloodstains that were on his shirt. "Gave him up because he was tired of it. Fucker is one hotheaded son of a bitch. It be easier if Mark just went along with this but no, Mark's being all selfish. Mark wants me all to himself yet he'll never admit it out loud. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck this is one fucked up mess. It's a game of fucking telephone but nobody is fucking talking to each other." He glared at Chase. "Are you even listening to me?" He yanked Chase's head up by the hair and finally realized that the man was dead. "Oh. I guess not." He let out an insane and drunken laugh. "Oopsies daises. I guess fun time is over now." He started stumbling towards the door. "Ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching and get stepped on by me and I kill them cuz I'm cool like that hurrah, hurrah." He knew that wasn't how the song went at all, but that didn't actually matter to him at the moment. It was going to be all he could do just to remember which way was home. He did have a twink to see after all.

…..

Jeff was curled up on James's bed, staring vacantly at the wall. He had been crying again a few hours earlier, but now he was too exhausted to even do that. His marriage was over because he had fucked up yet again. It was amazing the number of times he managed to do that. It made him wonder if he was ever going to get anything right. It seemed like no matter what he did, he acted on some fucking impulse and screwed himself royally. It was insane.

"Why are you still sad?" Connor asked. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, playing with G.I. Joes that were missing their heads. Snoopy was there too and he looked like he wanted to eat those action figures. "You're here with us now. You should be happy."

"Leave me alone," Jeff snapped. He was getting really fucking irritated with Connor. "Why can't you play somewhere else?"

Connor glared at him. "This is my daddy's room and I can play in here if I want to."

"But he's not here so out!" Jeff kicked Connor on the shoulder.

Connor growled and was just about to lunge at Jeff when he was smacked on the back of the head with a newspaper. "Get lost Connor," Cooper ordered. "Take Snoopy and your dolls and go play in the living room.

"But he kicked me!" Connor whined.

"I don't care," Cooper replied. "You've been bugging him for three hours now. It's time you leave him alone."

Jeff flinched at the hateful look Connor gave him before taking his dog and his action figures and storming out. "He's creepy," he complained.

Cooper nodded. "Yeah, he's got mental problems. Dad fucked his twin sister and that's what came from it."

"Oh." Jeff went back to staring at the wall. He felt so fucking terrible that he couldn't even put it into words.

Cooper sighed. "Can I ask you something?"

"It depends," Jeff replied.

"Why can't any of you people in this situation act like adults? I mean seriously, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of children try to recreate a soap opera. You're up here like a teenaged girl, moping and crying and probably not realizing that in most relationships, cheating is actually a deal breaker; Tom is a fucking hothead who was stupid enough to throw you to a bunch of wolves without thinking about the consequences; Mark has idiotically abandoned his usual plan of attack of yelling and being mean to Dad until he gets what he wants, which means he's going to come up with something else to do and it'll be surprisingly juvenile for a guy like Mark and Dad is out there somewhere hammered out of his mind because he doesn't know what to do."

Jeff stared at Cooper. "You sound pissed."

"I'm frustrated! If you fuckers would sit down and talk rationally for two minutes, we could get something straightened out. But no! We have you and Dad on one side, Tom on another and Mark on yet another side." He snorted. "Or maybe Tom and Mark are on the same side. Who the fuck knows?"

Jeff shook his head. "Tom hates Mark. He wouldn't—"

"Don't say who wouldn't do what anymore," Cooper interrupted. "Jealousy, booze and desperation can make people do funny ass things. I haven't seen Mark and Dad fight this badly before so even I don't know what to expect from all this."

Jeff chewed on his lower lip. He didn't know what to expect either. "How come you sound so wise about this?" he asked. "Did you have a messy break-up before?"

Cooper shook his head. "I don't date. I've had a few one night stands but I'm usually taking care of Connor."

"Why can't James do that?"

"He tries, but the thing of it is, our mom died when we were young and Connor latched on to me like I was Mom's replacement. And since he's so childlike, he basically still needs me to play mom. For most people, that's the deal breaker right there. They don't even get to find out how fucked up my family really is."

Jeff shook his head. He sympathized with Cooper. He knew damn well what if felt like to lose a mother. "I think it's sweet that you take care of him. Those other people can go straight to hell."

Cooper chuckled. "I think that's the first time anyone has ever used the word 'sweet' when it involves me."

"I don't see why. You're the nicest person here."

"That's not actually saying a whole lot, considering that you really don't know me or my family all that well. We're not actually the kind of people you should be around."

"Why is that?" Jeff asked.

"We're dangerous."

Jeff shook his head. He had no idea what Cooper was talking about. Sure James was dangerous when he had to be and both him and Connor were a little crazy, but he didn't consider any of them to be a threat to him.

Cooper could tell he was not convincing Jeff at all. "Forget it," he said. "I don't know what I was thinking. You wouldn't understand."

Jeff grabbed him by the hand before he could get too far. "Cooper wait—"

"Daddy!" they could hear Connor yelling. "Daddy Daddy—ew, you're all gross!"

Jeff and Cooper just stared at each other. Cooper acted like he was going to take his hand away but then he got back on to the bed. "Listen to me very carefully," he said quietly. "We have secrets in this family. Secrets we keep from the rest of the world. Mark and Glenn, but that's it. You're going to notice strange things the longer you stay here. My advice is to just stay out of it. Ignore what you see. Do not get involved, because if you find out what we're hiding, you'll have to keep it a secret too. If you don't, or if there is even a reason to suspect that you won't, then there's going to be a serious fucking problem. And I don't want that for you Jeff. I really don't."

That didn't really answer Jeff's question, but he didn't get to say that. Before he knew what was happening, Cooper was kissing him on the forehead and was out the door just as James was coming in. "What happened to your other clothes?" Cooper asked.

"They got dirty," James slurred out. He stumbled into the room looking a little worse for wear. "Twinky Dink! You're still here!"

"Uh yeah, of course I am," Jeff said slowly. He looked at James carefully. The large man was drunk out of his mind. "Where else am I going to go? It's not like I can go home."

"Oh." James tried to put his foot up so he could take off his shoe and promptly fell over.

Jeff was up in an instant and went over to check on James. "Are you okay?" he asked. He knew that there was no way he was going to get James up all by himself. He would need to get Cooper to help him.

"I is fine," James muttered. "Marky just…Marky went away. Up to something. Dirty Marky." He somehow managed to get up to his feet by himself. "But you're still here Twinky Dink. That's nice."

Jeff was about to tell James he should lay down when James grabbed him roughly and started kissing him. Jeff gagged a little bit because James's mouth tasted stale whiskey. Despite that though, he didn't try to tell James no. He didn't know what his reasoning was anymore. Maybe he didn't see the point in it. He didn't do it in time to save his marriage, so there was no point in saying it now. Or maybe it was because there was an attraction to James. James wasn't like anyone else he had been with before. Or maybe it was something else he hadn't thought of before. Whatever it was, it didn't really matter at the moment. The fact that he was losing his clothes at an alarming rate seemed to be the more pressing issue at the moment.

"Do you have anything?" Jeff somehow managed to ask, although he wasn't sure how. James kept attacking his mouth like his life depended on it.

"Yeah, I've got this," James replied. He rubbed his groin up against Jeff's, causing the smaller man to moan.

"I meant lube," Jeff whimpered. He squeaked as he was pushed back on to the bed and his knees were pushed up to his chest.

James just grunted in response. It was obvious he didn't have it, or if he did, he was too far gone to think about using it. Jeff tried to relax but it still hurt like hell when James just shoved his dick in with no fucking prepping. "Fuck fuck fuck," Jeff groaned, digging his nails into James's shoulders. His mouth and neck were soon back under attack from James's lips and his groans of pain were mixed with pleasure. Why this was getting him off was another thing he didn't understand. He didn't think of himself as a person who got off on pain, yet he was so hard that he had to reach down and stroke himself because he was that desperate to get off.

James grabbed a handful of Jeff's hair and yanked on it really hard as he came. Jeff closed his eyes and nearly screamed as his own release coated his fingers. He panted for breath as James pulled out, expecting to feel the other man get off the bed and leave like last time. When he didn't, he opened his eyes and found that James was already passed out. Almost grinning, he went to rest his head against James's chest when he noticed something on the unconscious man's arm. He took a closer look at it and the post coital bliss pretty much evaporated.

There was blood on James's arm. And judging from the fact that he didn't have a scratch on him, it definitely wasn't his.


	9. Revelations and Realizations

Jeff didn't know how he fell asleep that night. What he did know was that when he woke up, James's breathing was uneven and he was scratching at his own neck, leaving bloody marks in his wake. "James?" Jeff said hesitantly, sitting up. Even though he was still completely freaked out by finding blood on James's arm that night, he was still hoping for some kind of logical explanation about that.

James mumbled something completely incoherent.

"James?" Jeff said again. He slowly put his hand on the sleeping man's shoulder.

James sat up so fast that he nearly hit Jeff in the process. He panted for breath, checking his neck for whatever it was he had been clawing at. "It's not there," he muttered. "Wasn't real. The bitch fucking didn't do it again." He looked over at Jeff, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Did you have a nightmare?" Jeff asked.

"No. It was a memory." James reached over to the desk next to the bed, grabbed some tissues and started wiping the blood off his neck. "Of course, I guess this memory qualifies as a nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

James was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, it was in a voice Jeff had never used him before. "Have you seen the movie _The Crow_?"

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. Matty and I watched that movie together a long time ago."

"Well do you remember the line Brandon Lee says to that junkie mom? `Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children?' Well my mother was the complete opposite of that. She was fucking Satan. She hated me and when I was three she took a wire hanger and tried to slit my throat with it." He pointed to a scar that was near where all his scratches now were. "That bitch was fucking crazy."

Jeff stared at the scar in shock. "She did that? How could she even try to do that? You were a little kid!"

James shrugged. "Like I said, she was fucking crazy." He threw the bloody tissues into the nearby trash can. "But it doesn't matter anymore. She's been dead for nearly twenty years now. I'm fucking over that shit."

That was one of the most blatant lies Jeff had ever heard in his life. It was obvious that James still had issues he hadn't exactly dealt with. Why else would he have a nightmare about it? Feeling a little awkward, Jeff hesitantly hugged James. James stiffened for a second but he didn't pull away. In fact, even though it took him a couple minutes to do, he relaxed into Jeff's embrace. "I'm not exactly good at this hugging shit Twinky," he muttered. "Just ask the boys."

"That's okay," Jeff said. "I know how to deal with non-huggers." He glanced down at James's arm and looked at it warily.

"What?" James asked. "Am I supposed to be hugging you back right now?"

Jeff shook his head. "You came home with blood on your arms last night. I was wondering what happened to you."

An unreadable look flashed through James's eyes as he lifted his arm up and saw that Jeff was right. "Son of a fucking bitch," he muttered. He gently touched the dried blood. "I missed a spot."

"What happened?" Jeff asked. He stared at the spot apprehensively. "It's not yours."

"I got into a fight," James said quickly. "Some faces got busted. It's not a big deal." He took himself out of Jeff's arms and stood up. "I'm going to get into the shower. You want to join me?"

Jeff shook his head. "I'll take one later."

"Okay then. Suit yourself."

Jeff kept his eyes on James until he left the room. Once again, he just knew that James was lying to him. He couldn't explain how he knew this, but he did. He got off the bed and began looking around. He remembered what Cooper said about not asking questions and leaving things alone, but he couldn't do that. The curiosity was driving him insane.

He got off the bed and began searching the room. The dresser and the closet didn't reveal anything too unusual besides James's alarming amount of handcuffs (which Jeff found kind of hot, but that was beside the point). In one of the drawers of the desk, he found a notebook filled with drawings of murdered people that looked like they had been drawn by James himself. Now that disturbed Jeff more than a little bit. He kept looking at them over and over again, wanting to just shut the notebook and put it away but too hypnotized by what he was seeing. James had gone into way too much detail with all of this. Shuddering to himself, Jeff was about to close the notebook when a picture fell out of the back of it. He picked it up slowly and almost threw up. It was a picture of a woman who had been horribly mutilated.

"I told you not to do this. Why can't any of you people ever just listen to me?"

Jeff nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around. Cooper was standing behind him now. "Cooper," Jeff said in a shaky voice. "I—"

"I should have known this was going to be a problem," Cooper muttered. He took the picture and the notebook from Jeff and put them back to where they belonged. "I should have would have known you would snoop anyway. He'll know you did it and he'll probably tell you. Are you ready to keep your mouth shut about it?"

Jeff bit his lower lip. He was really freaked out right now. "Who was in that picture?" he asked. "Who was that woman?"

Cooper hesitated for a moment before answering. "Grandma," he finally said. "That was Grandma."

Jeff gasped. James had said his mom had died; he had never mentioned her being murdered. "Did he…I mean did he…"

"He killed her," Cooper said quietly. He looked like he had given up on trying to hide it. "He hated her so that's what he did to her." He pulled Jeff up to his feet. "Don't bring it up though. Let him tell you himself. This isn't the subject to call him out on."

Jeff nodded numbly. He didn't know what else to do. James had killed his mom…he had come home with blood on his arm last night…Jeff didn't know what to think. Had James killed someone last night? Were the people in those drawings other victims? And what about those two men in the alley the night of the attack—did they get killed too?

Jeff had a bad feeling that all of those questions had one simple answer: yes. The more important question was, what was he going to do about it?

……

At the following week's television taping, both Mark and Tom were in for a surprise when they looked at the night's card. The bookers had combined two feuds into one tag match, and the resulting match was Tom and Matt Hardy versus The Undertaker and CM Punk.

"Someone must've slept with someone important." Tom muttered under his breath while he was changing.

"Don't look at me, man." Matt replied "I'm getting royally screwed in the process. I have a problem with both of them and I'm positive I heard Mark say something about a receipt when he arrived."

"Let me take care of the Phenom." Tom looked in the mirror and applied a generous amount of gel to his hair, turning it into a slick mess. "You just make sure Phil doesn't get a chance to lock in that anaconda vice of his."

"No fear of that, bro. Once is enough for me." Matt shuddered when visions of the time he'd been subjected to that particular hold went through his head. The only counter was not to get trapped in the hold in the first place.

"Cool. I'll be right back. Trainer's got a new brace for my knee." Tom stood up.

"I thought it was back to one hundred percent." Matt responded, concern for his brother clear in his voice. Despite the personal problems with Jeff, this was all business and Matt didn't want his tag-team partner going into a match with an opponent the likes of the Undertaker if he wasn't on the top of his game.

"It still is. You won't be able to waffle Mark with a chair if things get outta hand tonight, so I'm not taking any chances. Be back as soon as I can."

Not the trainer's room, but one of the larger private dressing rooms was Tom's actual destination. Checking out the corridor to make sure no one saw him enter, Tom was inside and the door locked in seconds.

"Fuck... sorry I'm late, but Matt wouldn't stop razzing me." He lied.

"I was beginning to wonder if ya were plannin' to go through with this." Mark looked up. His ring gear was still hanging on several hooks and all he was wearing at the moment was his underwear.

"Depends what you mean by this?" Tom was a little concerned that Mark might be jumping the gun with their relationship. "Fuck, you haven't even told James about us and already I'm seeing more of you than I'd hoped."

"James... let's not talk about him right now." Mark still seemed a little put off. "That mother fucker's up to his usual tricks."

Tom nodded. Over several more beers the previous night, Mark had gone into great detail about James, including his more psychotic habits. Add that to the news report Tom had heard about a body being found in an abandoned warehouse, and he got a pretty good idea what Mark was talking about.

"You even talked to the mofo since yesterday?" Tom asked

Mark shook his head. It was plain that this topic of conversation was low on his list of things he wanted to do. "Drop the subject." He barked.

"Sure, Marky-Mark." Tom answered

"Remember what I said yesterday about callin' me that?" The angsty Mark was gone, replaced with the gruff Mark that Tom knew and supposedly loved.

"I don't see any beer bottles nearby." Tom shrugged

Mark grunted, as if he was disappointed to learn this. "Tommy, I really don't wanna do this." He leaned against the wall.

"This was your plan, remember?" To his knowledge, this was the first time, Mark had ever called anyone by their familiar name. It was usually their formal name with the word 'mother fucker', 'ass hole', 'son of a bitch', or some combination of all three.

"Not that. This match." Mark answered "I don't wanna risk hurtin' ya."

"Do what you gotta do, Deadman. We're all in this together." Tom turned to the door, but then turned back around. Mark was still leaning against the wall.

"Fuckin' James. Motherfucker doesn't realize this time he's gone too far." He whispered

Tom was filled with pity for the Deadman. He knew all too well what it was like to give your heart to someone, only to have it thrown back in your face.

"Hey Phenom..."

"What?" Mark looked up and before he could ask what Tom was thinking, his lips were crushed to his.

Instinctly, Mark struggled to break free, then he realized that Tom wasn't going to let go any time soon. He returned the kiss with his usual gusto, momentarily forgetting that this wasn't James he was kissing.

Tom tore their mouths apart. "Good luck, Mark." He said, wiping away the thin trickle of blood from his lower lip with the back of his hand. He winked, then let himself out.

Mark was stunned. He hadn't expected Tom to go that, for one thing. For another, he didn't expect his body to respond the way it had. There was a noticeable bulge in the front of his shorts. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He swore. He had a match in minutes and it wasn't good for his image if the Deadman came out to the ring wth a hard-on.

"Ten minutes, Mark!" Someone yelled through his door.

"Fuck!" Mark quickly dressed, hoping that the adrenaline from the crowd would take his mind of what had caused this inconvenience.

After a quick stop to get his knee support from the trainer, Tom returned to his locker room. Matt was just as Tom had left him, though he was on his phone. Two seconds in, and Tom knew exactly who Matt was talking to.

"Gotta go, Jeffro." Matt quickly concluded the conversation when he saw Tom. "Our match is next. We have three days off after tonight's show, so why don't we get together for lunch or somethin'?"

Inadvertantly, Tom glared at Matt.

"Dude, I'll call you when I get back to the hotel. I love you." Matt quickly closed the phone. "Sorry about that."

"No skin off my back, Matty. I remember your message and even though Jeff's and my relationship is over, I don't expect you to do the same." Tom sat down on the bench and stared at his brace. "Does this fuckin' thing come with an instruction manual or do I just have to guess?"

"Let me help you." Matt squatted down in front of Tom and helped him put it on. It was compact enough that Tom could wear it under his cargo pants.

"Five minutes, guys." One of the crew stuck his head through the open door. "Phil and Mark are entering first."

"Awesome." Tom walked across the room, stretching, taking a few steps, throwing a few martial arts kicks, and otherwise testing out the brace. "Can't hardly tell I'm wearing it."

"Good. I don't want Mark trying anything like last time."

"He won't, trust me." Tom answered "Let's go."

Matt and Tom walked to the gorilla position. Punk had already come down to the ring and Mark was just about to go through when he saw Tom. His expression changed ever-so-slightly, then he was gone.

Tom and Matt paced, waiting for their music to hit.

"...and their opponents, from Cameron, North Carolina and Los Angeles, California, respectively, weighing four hundred eighty-one pounds... Matt and Tom... the Hardys!"

The crowd cheered when they appeared on stage, drowning out the classic Hardy theme.

Matt did his Mattitude gesture and Tom found himself mirroring it. At least he didn't do the Hardy Gunz by mistake. Doing his ex's sign was out of the question. If their plan was to work, Tom had to throw himself completely into his role as Mark's "boyfriend". All ties to Jeff had to be severed.

Tom and Mark started the match and immediately, Tom noticed that something was off with Mark. He was moving rather gingerly around the ring. Tom ducked a rather stiff clothesline and immediately applied a headlock.

"What the fuck is goin' on?" Tom whispered, while cinching in the hold.

"I could ask you the same question." Mark growled "What the fuck was with that kiss? Because of that, I've had a boner for the last fifteen minutes and it won't go away."

Under the pretense of adjusting the hold, Tom looked down. It looked like several tube socks had been stuffed down the front of his trunks.

"Sorry, dude. I was just trying to perk you up. I see I succeeded at least part-way." Tom backed Mark into the corner and tagged Matt.

Mark was at the mercy of a violent assault by Matt, but every move seemed to only increase his arousal. He realized that if he didn't get away soon, he was gonna cream himself. In the midst of trading head shots with Matt, he told him of his 'problem'. Matt looked at Mark as if he was crazy, and for a moment Mark pictured him grabbing the house mic and announcing to the whole arena that the Big, bad, Undertaker couldn't continue the match because he was gonna shoot in his pants.

Mercifully, Matt allowed Mark to get the advantage and tag Phil in, who was the only person in the match unaware of the problem. Even the referee seemed to notice that something was off.

Standing in his corner, Mark assessed his situation and was more confused than ever. What the fuck was wrong with him? Contrary to his earlier thoughts, this was supposed to be a relationship of convenience. It was only happening so both he and Tom could get their respective lovers back. So why was Mark now craving more intimate contact with Tom? The more he thought about this problem, the less chance of his erection going away and the more chance he was going to have to get back into the ring.

"Tag!" He shouted. Phil and Tom were currently the legal men in the match.

Tom looked over. His eyes quickly flicked down to Mark's crotch. He shook his head 'no'.

"Tag! C'mon, motherfucker, let me into the match!" Mark shouted to Phil. Something in his tone told Phil now was not the time to fuck with him.

Phil tagged Mark in, and he immediately kicked Tom in the gut, dropping him to the mat. He followed up with a leg drop into a rear chinlock.

"Still fiending?" Tom asked, though he already knew the answer to this question.

"Double clothesline... we tag our partners, then fight all the way backstage. I can't go on like this." Mark was panting, and it was not with exertion from the match. He had never, emphasize never, been this hard in his life.

Phil and Matt got back into the match while Tom and Mark continued their battle up the ramp and backstage. By the hair, Mark threw Tom into his locker room and quickly bolted the door.

"Motherfucker..." He sighed, then their lips were pressed together again. This time, Mark took the dominant position, though he knew he wouldn't last long, especially when Tom reached between them and started rubbing. "I ain't gonna..."

"I know, but we got a match to finish." This whole situation was already fucked up. "Hurry up and cum, Deadman."

Mark groaned, his cock spasming in the tight confines of his tights. He felt a not-unpleasant wetness against his lower belly and was really glad he wore black.

Tom leaned against the wall, a smirk on his face. "Now you have something to tell James the next time he gets in your face. Throw me through the curtain and I'll roll down to the ring."

Matt and Phil were still going at it in the ring when Tom and Mark made their return. Mark whipped Tom toward the post, but he reversed it, sending Mark into the steel instead. With Mark incapacitated, Matt and Tom quickly took care of Phil. This time, he was the one who tapped out.

"Your winners... the Hardys!" Matt and Tom quickly jumped out of the ring. Mark and Phil put on their best angry looks, but for one of them, it was forced. Had someone put a gun to Mark's head right at that moment and demanded that he choose who he was going to spend the rest of his life with, the name he would utter would not be "James". How fucked up is that?

…..

James didn't even hear the announcement about who had won the match. He was by himself in the living room, watching Smackdown and absolutely seething with anger. At first he had been laughing because Mark had been wrestling with a hard on. He had been the cause of more than a few of Mark's boners and it was always funny to see the Phenom trying to wrestle with one. But then he noticed how Tom and Mark were together when they were in the ring. The hatred that had been so obvious last time had been replaced with something else. It had taken him a minute to realize what it was but when he did, he had just about gotten up and kicked his foot through the television.

It was sexual tension. It was so thick that James wasn't even sure his own knives could cut it. He tried to tell himself that he was being stupid. Mark and Tom would never work. It just…it wasn't right. Besides, Mark was his. Mark had always been his. Nothing would change that.

"_You're getting sloppy James. They found that fucking body! What the hell were you thinking?"_

"_I was drunk asshole! It wasn't like I was in my right state of mind or anything like that. Besides, why are you so worried? Nothing is going to happen to happen to me. The police have nothing to connect me with that murder."_

_Mark groaned. "James god damn it, why can't you ever fucking stop it? The police aren't always clueless. If something happens to you—"_

"_Like you even care!" James snapped. "You haven't even been home since I brought Jeff here! It's like you hate me now or something."_

"_I don't hate you. I'm just not putting up with this. That is our house and you having Jeff there—"_

"_It's my house Mark! My fucking house! I'll have anyone I want here whenever the fuck I want them here! Do you understand me?"_

"_You're impossible Lawson. I hope you fucking know that."_

James shook his head. That conversation had taken place after the news report concerning Chase's body had aired. Mark had called because he knew who was responsible, and it had turned into another fight. "That doesn't matter," he told himself. "He still wouldn't do something with Tom. That's just…no, he wouldn't do that to me."

Not convinced at all, James walked over to the window and looked out it. Jeff and Cooper were having a water balloon fight with Connor. James knew something was up with Jeff. The kid had been really weird and distant ever since James had told him about Caroline. _He knows what you did to her,_ a voice in his head told him. _You have that picture in your room. He could have found it and put the pieces together. The boy isn't completely stupid._

James sighed. If that were the case, it seemed like him and Jeff were going to have to have a little talk about some dirty little secrets. But on the brighter side, thinking about what he was going to say to Jeff took his mind off of Mark. Because honestly, if Mark was up to something and Tom was involved with it, heads were going to get torn off—and he was not exaggerating about that at all.


	10. Dirty Little Secrets

One o'clock in the morning and Tom was in the midst of another sleepless night. Today had gone from only slightly fucked up to completely fucked up in a matter of minutes. What the hell had he been thinking, giving in to Mark's lust like that? Developing feelings for Mark was not part of the plan... it had never been, and now he was unable to get the Deadman out of his mind.

"Fuck." He groaned, looking over at the other bed. At least one Hardy was sleeping soundly. "What the fuck was I thinking?" When another hour had passed, and sleep was still elusive, Tom gave up. He crept around the room, dressing quietly. Maybe some night air would clear his head.

"Going out?" Tom realized his attempts at quiet had failed.

"Did I wake you?" He asked

"Nah, bro." Matt lied, propping up on his elbow. "Everything alright?"

"Not really, but I don't wanna drag you into this any deeper." Tom answered.

"You're falling for him, aren't you?" Matt asked.

"Who? Mark? Matt, you've taken too many shots to the head." Tom grabbed his room key.

"Tom, I'm not that dumb. There was so much sexual tension in that ring last night, I was getting aroused," Matt answered. "And then you two disappear midway through the match.. what'd you do, give him a handjob in the back?"

Tom forced himself to laugh. "Matt, there is nothing between me and Mark. Just because the people we were with are now with each other does not mean we're together."

"If you say so, bro." Matt laid down again. "Dude, it's your life. If it were me, I'da done the same thing."

"Then why didn't you fuck Adam's wife after you found out Amy was cheating on you?" It wasn't the nicest thing to say, but Tom was getting irritated.

"How do you know I didn't?" Matt answered.

Tom stared at his brother, dumbfounded.

"I'm kiddin', bro. If you say there's nothing with you and Mark, then I believe you. Go take a walk." Matt rolled over. "And I promise I won't say a word to Jeff."

"Why would I..." Tom stopped mid-reply. Matt was fast asleep again! "Lucky bastard." He let himself out.

Across town, Mark was also having a restless night. His mind was also racing with thoughts, and like Tom, most of them had something to do with their earlier activities. He was giving himself more of a mental ass-whipping than Tom, though. _How the hell am I gonna make James jealous when I may not want to go back to the psycho?_ Finally, he also caved in and decided to go for a walk, but before he even got out of bed, he heard a rattle at his window. It sounded like someone was throwing stones at it. He stared, wondering if his mind was that tired that he was hallucinating. Then he heard it again and this time saw it as well. _Who the fuck is disturbing me now? It better not be a fan! _

Mark stormed to the window and looked down. Tom was standing there, a cigarette in one hand and a handful of pebbles in the other. "Do you realize what the fuck time it is?" Mark tried to sound angry, but he was actually glad to see Tom.

"Yeah, I do." Tom retorted.

"Well what do you want?" Mark yelled down.

"I'd rather not have this conversation like this, for one thing." Tom replied, dropping the stones onto the ground and taking a drag. "You gonna come down here or you gonna invite me in?"

"Come on up. I'm in 203." Mark replied. _Not the smartest thing to do, dummy_.

Mark threw on his jeans and a shirt. Another problem... every time he thought about what had happened, part of him got really demanding for attention. He'd tried jerking off, but that had only provided temporary relief. Ten minutes later, he was in exactly the same state.

"So what the hell do you want?" Mark demanded as he opened the door.

Tom stormed into the room. "Fuck!" He shouted, dropping onto the other bed. "I'm so fuckin' confused right now..."

"You ain't the only one?" Mark agreed.

"I went along with this idea of yours because I figured it would be the easiest way for both of us to get back what we had, but now... mind if I smoke?" Between the terrace and Mark's room, Tom had discarded his cigarette.

"Whatever floats ya." Mark replied.

Tom took out his pack. Mark noticed that his hands were shaking as he lit up. He took several deep drags and that seemed to stop his hands from shaking. Mark sat down on the other bed, facing Tom, and waited. Finally, Tom seemed to calm down enough to finish his thought.

"But now... I'm doing the one thing that I thought would never happen." Tom looked at Mark, who saw a look of utter helplessness.

"What are you talking about?" He thought he knew exactly what was going on in Tom's mind, but he wanted Tom to say it to be sure. "What did you think would never happen?"

"Don't play stupid, Mark. You know what's happened! I've fuckin' fallen for you." Tom took three more puffs, then butted it out.

Mark was a little shocked, but at least his suspicions were confirmed. "What's the problem? We want to make it convincing?"

"Well, we won't have any problem with that, now will we?" Tom began massaging his temples. "Fuck, even Matt saw it. And if our lovers saw that match..."

"Don't fuckin' worry about it." Mark came over and sat down on the other bed. He wrapped his arm around Tom, a small thing, but one completely out of character. "Let me deal with James. Fucker's gotta realize that he isn't the end all when it comes to me."

"But he is... isn't he?" Tom narrowed his gaze.

"He is, but he isn't. I mean, why can he have his 'Twinky Dink' and flaunt it in my face and I can't do the same?" Mark started rubbing Tom's shoulder, sending shivers through them both.

"Mark... this is really fucked up. I need my Jeffro back and if I get too involved with you..." There was a hint of sadness in Tom's voice, and Mark could tell.

"Tommy, listen, I am not going to force you into doing something you're going to regret. I just want you to think about it." Mark's hand soon moved to Tom's neck, where it was joined by the other one. "We're both dealing with feelings for each other."

"I'm torn in three right now. Part of me wants to take James out of the picture permanently so I can have my husband back, and another part of me doesn't want to hurt you that bad..."

"What about the third part?" Mark asked. He never knew how emotionally split Tom could be.

"That part wants to do what we did in the locker room, but without clothing in the way." Tom said "And that's the part that scares me. I better go. If you want me to be there when you tell James about us, lemme know."

Without another word, Tom was gone, leaving Mark in a really bad way.

"Fuck!" He screamed, pounding the mattress.

In the corridor, Tom heard Mark's cry. It had taken every ounce of his self-control not to give in to that third part of him. "Ah, fuck it." Tom turned, kicked open the door to Mark's room and pounced on him.

....

Jeff looked at James, who had been smoking so many cigarettes that the whole room smelled like tobacco. They both knew what conversation needed to take place, but neither of them were very eager to go through with it. Jeff didn't want to talk about it because he was afraid. He was still trying to process the thought that he had slept with a killer. Sure this killer was sexy and could fuck him in ways nobody else ever had, but killing people was supposed to be wrong. And if he said something that James didn't like, he was afraid that he himself would end up on the wrong part of the knife.

James finally rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad about the snooping Jeff," he said, using Jeff's actual name for the first time. "I should have known something like that was going to eventually happen. You twinks don't know how to keep out of other people's things."

Jeff chewed on his lower lip. "How did you know that I snooped?"

"I didn't. I just figured you did and I figured right."

Jeff winced. Okay, so James was good at getting people to incriminate themselves. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to."

"You did mean to snoop," James said bluntly. "And I told you that I'm not mad."

"But you sound mad."

"I'm mad at Mark and that fucking little husband of yours."

"Why?"

"They're fucking around with each other."

Jeff stared at James in disbelief. It took him several minutes to realize that he had not misheard James at all. "Why would you even say that?" he asked. "Mark and Tom hate each other."

James shook his head. "Appearances can be deceiving Jeff. I've known Mark for a long time and I know when he's attracted to someone. Something has happened after this whole mess started to change their minds about each other." He shook his head. "It's fucking sickening."

"I don't believe you," Jeff said. "Tom-"

"Owes you nothing," James interrupted. "You fucked around on him first."

"And you fucked around on Mark!" Jeff pointed out. He didn't want to think about what Tom could possibly be doing because it hurt more than he would have liked it to. "You are just as guilty as I am in all of this."

James got to his feet and began pacing back and forth. "You think I don't know that? Do you think I don't realize I fucked up here? I want you and I want Mark and I don't know what the fuck to do anymore. "

"Choose Mark! You actually love Mark!"

"No, choose Jeff! I like Jeff better. Mark's an asshole."

"Connor, Cooper, shut the fuck up!" James yelled. "Now is not the time to be casting your votes!" He kicked the coffee table over before getting his knife out and gripping it tightly. He looked like he was going to lose it at any moment. "Mark could have shared the twink, but no, he has to fucking be a bitch," he muttered to himself. "Fucking Mark, doesn't know he drives me just as crazy as I do to him." He took a deep breath and knocked a lamp down to the ground before sitting back on the couch. "Okay, I'm calm."

Jeff gave him a nervous look. He wasn't too sure about that.

James sighed impatiently. "Twinky Dink, would you quit staring at me like that and ask whatever the hell it is you want to ask? I'm not going to bite your head off or anything like that."

Jeff swallowed heavily and tried to think of the question he should ask first. This whole thing was absolutely crazy. "How many?" he finally managed to squeak out.

"How many what?" James asked, although he obviously knew what Jeff was talking about.

"James-"

"Okay, okay. Um...a lot. Like so many that I've lost count."

Jeff's jaw dropped. James had lost count? What the fuck?! "Are you serious?"

James shrugged. "Yeah, I'm completely serious. I'm not like you Jeff. My mind doesn't work the way yours does. I've had the urge to kill since I was a child and it wasn't like my parents ever taught me right from wrong. I don't even think I would have listened to them if they had. The urges...they're too strong and I don't even want to fight them."

Jeff gulped. "Have you ever tried not doing it?"

"Why?" James asked. "I'm not Mark. I can't control myself like Mark can. I can't go into "retirement' like he has. That's not me. Killing is in way too much into my system to turn back now."

"Wait, what do you mean Mark's in "retirement"? What does that mean?"

James smirked. "Oh come on. Mark's been my best friend and lover for a few decades now. Did you honestly think that his hands are completely clean?"

Jeff didn't know what to think anymore. This was all too much to process. He took a deep breath and tried to sort out his thoughts. James was a killer. And if James was telling the truth, Mark had been one too. Jeff could hardly believe that he had shacked up with a killer and was not even considering running to the police. It wasn't just the fear that was making him not do it. He was his own feelings for James that made him not want to do that.

But what were his feelings? Were they love or just more lust? He tried to come up with an answer and he couldn't. It just made his head hurt more. "I need to take a walk," he said quietly.

"Yeah, I figured you would need to," James said. He was studying Jeff carefully. "But if it's a walk to the police station-"

"It won't be," Jeff said quickly. "I just...I want to talk to Matt."

James sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Between you and whatever Mark has told Tom, he's bound to find out anyway. But I swear Jeff, if he opens his big mouth to the wrong people, even your cute little ass isn't going to be able to save him. You understand me?"

Jeff nodded as he got to his feet. "Yeah," he said shakily. "I understand." He started walking away and was almost out the door when he was grabbed by the wrist, turned around and kissed by James.

"Just one for the road," James said with a smirk when they broke apart. He chuckled at the look on Jeff's face and then backed off.

Jeff touched his lips gently before heading out the door. The kiss had sent shivers up his spine. That physical spark was still as hot as ever between them, despite what James was. Sighing to himself, Jeff needed to see Matt more than ever now. Maybe the older brother who didn't hate him at the moment could tell him what he should do.

.....

Tom lit a cigarette and looked over at Mark, who'd passed out shortly after their intense lovemaking session. Despite the brutality of their act, Mark had been downright tender. Unlike James, who he was lucky to get a word out of afterward assuming he didn't leave right away, Tom was more than happy to snuggle.

"The Big Bad 'Taker likes to cuddle." He smiled, brushing a few loose strands of greasy hair off his forehead. "Who'da thunk it?" He quickly swung his legs over the side and stepped outside onto the balcony to finish his smoke, uncaring that he was only wearing a cheese-eating grin.

As he inhaled the toxins, he reflected on just how screwed up things had gotten. If he thought it was messed up before, the last hour had turned his entire world on its ear. Just once, Tom wanted to be in the right, but now he was just as guilty as Jeff.

"Hell, Jeff broke our vows first." Tom justified his actions, throwing the end over the rail and going back inside. "It's like Mark said... if James and Jeff can have their little trysts, why can't we?"

Mark was awake, staring around the room.

"Morning, Marky-Mark." Tom looked around for his clothes

"Don't call me that." Mark groaned, his voice thick with sleepiness.

"Whatever." Tom slipped into his boxers and jeans and looked around for his shirt, before remembering that it hadn't survived. "Shit," he swore

"Whassup?" Mark leaned up on his elbow.

"I need a shirt." Tom stated "You shredded mine."

"Check the dresser. Maybe I got something in your size."

"Doubt it, but thanks." Tom rifled through Mark's gear, finding a Harley-Davidson shirt. "How's this?... It's the only one that doesn't look like a dress on me."

Mark winced. "Take care of it... that's one of my favorites."

"I will." Tom patted his pockets for his keys. "Later." This time when he left, he did not return.

...

"What's so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" Matt asked. Jeff had sounded on the verge of panic about something. Jeff had always been high-strung, but today was different.

"Matty, Imma need help." Jeff collapsed onto the bed that Tom had vacated earlier that morning. While a little surprised that Tom hadn't returned after his walk, Matt was grateful to some down time.

"Jeffro, you know I'll help you any way I can, but you gotta tell me just what the hell is going on."

Jeff spilled his guts to Matt, telling him everything that had happened since he'd fallen for James, up to the conversation he'd just finished. Matt sat silently, soaking in the information.

"Jeff, why haven't you told..."

"The police?" Jeff shrieked "James said if you tell the wrong people, then even my ass won't be able to save you. I don't think he's really that happy that I'm even here to begin with."

"What do you want me to tell you? It seems like the answer is pretty clear, especially if what James says is true and Mark and Tom are getting together."

"Not what I wanted to hear, big brother." Jeff pried a bag of Skittles from his pocket and tried to open it, but the twitching of his hands caused it to repeatedly fall on the floor. "Stupid Skittles."

"Here." Matt grabbed the bag and tore it open for Jeff. "Just relax. What do you want... better still, who?"

"Imma love Tommy." Jeff sighed "But James... fuck, I really fuckin' fucked this fuckin' thing up."

"You sure fuckin' did." Matt agreed.

"Tommy comin' back soon? Imma need to talk to him." Jeff asked.

"Dunno, li'l bro. He left real early." Matt shrugged.

"Can I stay with you 'til then?"

"Sure, I guess, but I'm not getting involved if the two of you start fighting again. I'm already in over my head." Matt rubbed Jeff neck, noticing for the first time the bite marks and scratches. "Uh, Jeff, what are these?"

"Uhhh... James gets a little frisky sometimes," Jeff giggled.

"Jeff..."

"I know. Imma be careful." Jeff promised, understanding perfectly what Matt was driving at. He'd asked himself the same question: 'What was stopping James from hurting him?'

Tom returned with two cups of coffee and a pack of donuts from a nearby shop. "Oh. I didn't know you had company."

"It's cool." Matt replied "Jeff wants to talk to you."

"You do, do you?" Tom made a big scene out of adding cream and sugar to his coffee.

"Tommy..."

"Arghhh!" His headache seemed to get worse every day. "Okay... what do you want to talk about?" It took every ounce of his being not to do something extremely regrettable.

Jeff told Tommy the story, conveniently omitting the part about how James had admitted to killing lots of people, but embellishing James' statement about Mark's involvement.

"Jeff, I don't know what the hell you are trying to pull by doing this, but it's totally unnecessary. There is nothing happening between me and Mark. We're just friends." Tom stated. "If you want to come back to me, all you have to do is tell James that you're finished with him."

Jeff stared at the floor.

"Remember, I am not the one who caused this." Tom answered "This is all on you. Help yourself to donuts." He took the coffee and left the room, taking the elevator to the parking lot. He got into his car and grinned.

"Hey Marky, good news... James is definitely jealous." He phoned his boyfriend. "Bad news is he told him everything... even about you."


	11. Natural Born Killer

James was surprised that Jeff came back to him after he had left to go talk to Matt. Honestly, he had thought the twink wouldn't come back after the revelation of what he really was. That meant one of three things: Jeff didn't care about the killing people thing, Jeff was way too consumed by whatever it was they had between them to really consider the consequences properly or the twink was a complete idiot. Any way that it could be looked at, James didn't care. He actually was kind of glad Jeff was around, although he never would admit it. It meant that he never had to sleep alone at least.

But despite Jeff's company, James was growing increasingly unhappy. He tried to deny what it was that was bothering him, but after a few sleepless nights, he couldn't lie to himself anymore: he missed Mark. Jeff was a sweet kid, but he wanted his Undertaker back, or at least know that Mark was waiting in the wings. But with the growing suspicion of what Tom and Mark's relationship had turned into, he didn't even have that comfort anymore. It was just like the early days of Mark's wrestling career, when all James could do was picture Mark fucking a random little tramp every night he didn't hear from his lover or the nights when they did talk over the phone but got into a fight. Except this time was much worse. Tom was not a faceless ring rat that could be blown off and be classified as nothing. The threat Tom posed was real. It was driving James absolutely crazy.

Now there were emotions that James had a hard time feeling. Compassion, guilt...they were pretty much a non-issue for him. But anger, jealousy, paranoia were another story. He felt those feelings completely. In fact, he felt them in a way that he could not control when he felt them. Mark had always been the one who kept him in line when he started slipping for real, but Mark wasn't around anymore. Mark was off with someone else.

_"Just tell me if you're fucking him!" James said angrily. "That's all I want to know! Just tell me the fucking truth Mark!"_

_Mark sighed angrily. All he had come to do was get his stuff from the house. "There is nothing going on James. You need to stop this. Now get out of my way."_

_"Liar liar liar LIAR!" James yelled angrily. He followed Mark as he began grabbing all of his stuff. He was not going to be gotten rid of easily. Jeff and the boys were gone so he could do this without any problem. "You fucking are a liar and a cheat and-"_

_"I'm a cheat?" Mark nearly roared. "You fucked around on me first Lawson! You have your twink. You made your choice and now I'm done. I need a break from you. You have driven me insane for far too fucking long now and I won't let you do it anymore."_

There had been other confrontations like that, and while Mark had kept denying what James was sure he was doing, every time James heard that Mark wanted to take a break from him, the wounds just got deeper and deeper. Mark had broken up with him. Mark had left him. Mark's promise to stay with him no matter what had been a lie.

With that realization sinking in, James's grip over his control slipped completely. He didn't let it show to Jeff or the boys but for a few days, insomnia kept him awake at all hours of the night and his mind was in constant turmoil. He began hallucinating, seeing Tom and Mark fucking and taunting him with it. He also saw the decomposed body of his sister Annabelle, and every time she appeared, she was dangling a knife in front of his face, whispering about what needed to be done. It should have freaked James out but the truth in her words struck him more than anything else. He still wasn't sure what to do, but he got the general idea.

It was time for him to get back to doing what he did best.

.....

Connor was alone in his room with Snoopy. He had a dream during the night. His mother had come to him, dressed like an angel and all warm like she had been when she had been alive. She had told him that James was going to do something bad. She had said that he had been pushed too far and there was nothing that any of them could do to change his mind.

"It's going to be okay though," Connor told Snoopy. "She told me what to do when he does it. I'm going to take you and Cooper and then we're going to run away. We'll go to Daddy's friends down south and they'll help us disappear." The only thing that worried him was whether they could get James to come with them. If he was as far gone as his mother had told him, then he was going to be acting on pure impulse and he could possibly not want to disappear. "I hope Daddy comes," he said sadly. "I don't want him to be taken to jail. I would miss him a whole lot."

Snoopy sniffed Connor's face before licking it. Connor took it as a sign of his puppy trying to tell him that everything would be okay. "I hope you're right Snoopy," he said quietly. "I really really do."

......

James paced outside the arena. He'd spent many alcohol-fuelled hours trying to figure out how he was going to inflict maximum pain for maximum gain. He originally thought about taking Jeff out of the picture, but there was no guarantee that Mark would even consider coming back after that, and a small part of him couldn't hurt the Twinky Dink. It was also that part that reminded him that if he did, he'd not only have Mark on his ass, but probably Matt and Tom as well. The next option was Mark, but that really made no sense. Finally, it occurred to him what he needed to do. He just had to find a way inside without being seen by any of them.

It was scheduled to be Matt Hardy against CM Punk for the heavyweight title. Things had finally seemed to be getting back to some normalcy after the mess of the previous few weeks. Despite what his brother and Mark repeatedly told everyone, Matt was willing to bet the family farm that they were indeed a couple.

Jeff and James had been inseparable. Were Matt an idealist, he would've suggested that they should just cut bait and leave each other alone, but he was also a realist. He knew that Jeff still had feelings for Tom and vice-versa. He could only wonder about James and Mark. Dwelling on what they called a relationship only made Matt's head hurt worse than the fifteen tequila shooters he'd done with Shane the previous night.

"You got my back tonight?" Matt asked.

"Always," Tom replied. Even though Matt had been put in what he called 'an awkward position', his relationships with both his brothers was still functioning. He'd just made it perfectly clear that he refused to be around the two of them at the same time until they figured out just what the fuck they were going to do about their respective relationships. This seemed to appease them both, not that either Tom or Jeff was going to go out of his way to see the other.

"Matt Hardy... World Champion." Matt sighed "If only Jeffro was here to see it."

Tom shrugged. "I'll be in catering if you need me." The mention of Jeff had dampened his spirits, but it was nothing a couple of subs wouldn't cure.

From a quiet corner, James watched Tom leave the locker room. He chuckled evilly. This was going to be a piece of cake. Hurt them all in the most vile way possible. He briefly thought of Jeff. "Twinky'll get over it soon enough. I'll see to it."

James strode toward catering. At this point, he didn't care if he was seen. Like there was anyone who could've stopped him anyway.

"We got a situation." James ducked back into his hiding place when a whole phalanx of arena security seemed to come outta nowhere.

"Shit!" James cussed. The security was followed by several members of the production crew, as well as most of the roster, his victim included. He may be a psycho, but there was no way he was going to be able to do the deed with so many witnesses. Even he doubted that he'd be able to take them all on.

"Good thing I always come prepared." James laughed, staring at the small black bag he carried. He quickly found an empty room and set his plan in motion.

...

"Wanna play with Snoopy?" Connor asked. The beagle stared at Mark, tail wagging.

"Maybe later, kid." Mark sighed. How he'd gotten roped into babysitting the boys was beyond him (since he could have sworn he had told James on several occasions that he wanted a break), but the second Mark had let slip that he wasn't wrestling at Friday's show, James had not asked, but rather demanded, that Mark babysit the boys, saying he had an important errand to run. He'd not bothered to ask him for details, not that James would've said much, but one thing bothered him: Why the fuck was he watching Jeff as well? If Mark didn't know better, he would've thought that James was expecting him to do something, which made him uneasy.

But what was James expecting him to do? That was the question. James had confronted Mark on several occasions about his 'boyfriend' and every time, Mark had denied it vehemently. What was the psycho trying to prove... leave him alone so he'd give in and fuck Jeff himself? All that would lead to is a variation of James saying "I told you so."

_Fucker's got a lotta nerve_. Mark raised the beer to his lips and idly watched the television. "Is anyone watching this?"

Connor was paying no attention at all. Since he'd gotten the puppy, it seemed like the kid actually cared about something other than himself. It might've almost been touching if you didn't know how messed up he really was. Mark was constantly worrying that the next time something set him off, Snoopy might become just another victim.

Cooper was sitting in the corner, asleep. Jeff was the only one paying attention to the wrestling.

"Imma." Jeff waved at the show. "Matty's fighting Punk for the title tonight. Matty's gonna win."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

"Psh!" Jeff waved Mark off.

Mark really wanted to change the channel. It was hard enough living in a soap opera without having to watch one on TV, but he knew Jeff would throw a hissy fit if he did. He went back into the kitchen and was getting a beer when he heard something that sent shivers down his back: the opening gongs of his entrance theme, followed by a scream from Jeff.

"What the fuck?" Mark ran back into the living room where Jeff was staring horrified at the screen.

...

The contest was going exactly according to the script when chaos reared its head. Thanks to a few well-placed threats, James had bullied the tech crew into killing the lights and playing Mark's music at just the right moment. For a big man, he moved quickly into position.

The fans did not know what to expect. The Undertaker wasn't expected to appear that night, but now that he was here... it was a bonus, or was it? When the lights came on, there was a large man at ringside. It looked like Mark, but Mark usually didn't carry a knife and he usually didn't have it pressed against the throat of one of his coworkers.

"What the hell?" Matt figured it was Mark doing a run-in, but then something happened to change his mind. The man drew the blade across Tom's throat, cutting him deeply. Tom collapsed at ringside.

"That'll teach you and Mark to fuck with me." Matt's blood ran cold when he heard the voice.

In the confusion caused by Tom bleeding to death beside the ring, James ran out of the arena. He was still wearing the clothes he'd stolen from Mark's travel bag. He knew exactly what he was doing. If he had to, he'd play the role of the jilted lover and bully everyone into believing him.

Matt's first instinct was to chase after James.

"A little help." Phil's shout soon changed his mind. The straight-edge superstar was desperately trying to stop the bleeding with whatever possible, including his wrist tape.

"Tommy!" Matt unwrapped his own wrists in a vain attempt to staunch the blood flow. Each piece was taped against the gash in Tom's neck, but was soon soaked through with fresh blood.

....

Mark stared at the screen, not believing what he had seen at all. He knew that he had not just seen James slash Tom's throat on national television. There was no way that this could have happened. It was a nightmare and he would be waking up at any moment, either next to Tom, who would be just fine or next to James, who would assure him that he would never do anything so foolish or crazy.

"Tommy!" Jeff yelled. That horrified scream was enough to snap Mark out of his hopes for it to be a nightmare and it woke Cooper out of his sleep.

"What happened?" Cooper asked, still confused from his sleep. He looked at the screen and saw the paramedics rushing to Tom's aid. "Holy shit! What happened to him?"

"Daddy did a bad thing," Connor said quietly. He had scooped Snoopy into his arms and he was yanking Cooper up to his feet. "Have to go away now. Mommy says we must hide so nobody takes us away."

Mark quickly shut the television off. He couldn't look at it anymore. Tom was dying and he felt responsible for it. He should have seen this coming. All the anger James had shown in their confrontations, he should have known that James had been close to losing it. But he hadn't bothered to pay close enough attention because he had let his own anger and pride take this thing too far. Now they were all going to get burned by it.

"No no no no no no no..." Jeff moaned. He looked like he was about to collapse. Mark felt bad for him but they needed to get a hold of Matt and find out what hospital Tom was going to get taken to. Connor was dragging Cooper away and Mark knew that they were going to run for it just to be safe. Mark didn't care about them though. He just kept thinking about Tom and James, his mind and heart torn in two. He didn't want Tom to die and he was furious at James for pulling a stunt like that. But as mad as he was, he couldn't wish for James to be caught by the police. He still did love James, despite what he had said before and despite what had just happened. _It never ends. No matter which way any of us turn, this whole mess fucks us over even more. Damn it damn it damn it damn it..._

_...._

Matt stared in shock while Tom was loaded onto a stretcher with several formerly white, now completely stained red, towels pressed against his neck. Several times he'd tried to get one of the EMT's to tell him just how bad it was, but the most he could get was a "stay back, please."

Tom hadn't moved a muscle since the attack. His normally rosy complexion was now deathly white, looking like he'd used too much of Paul Bearer's old stage make-up. If only it were that easy though.

"You comin'?" A voice snapped Matt back to reality. It really sunk in once Tom was wheeled up the ramp and backstage. The second they were out of sight of the crowd, some of whom probably thought that this was part of the show, Matt's emotional control vanished. His legs felt rubbery and were it not for Phil holding him up, he would've collapsed onto the floor.

"Easy Matt." Phil of all people was his support. "Keep it together."

Matt's vision started to go squirrely and he could barely hear Phil. "What are they saying?" The EMT's were talking to him, but it sounded far away and under water.

"They're asking if you want to ride with them?" Phil whispered

Matt just let his head bob up and down, like his neck was made of rubber.

Phil helped him into the back of the ambulance for the ride to the hospital. He must've really looked like he was going to pass out because one of the medics stopped working on Tom to shine a light into his eyes. "No!" Matt wanted to protest, but he lacked a voice to do so. "Save Tommy."

They were met at the hospital by an anxious-looking set of men in white.

"Male, caucasian, thirty-six, knife wound extending laterally across the neck, with severe laceration of both the carotid and jugular arteries. BP is ninety over fifty with three units of o-negative administered en-route. Pulse is weak and thready and no response to painful stimuli."

"OR 3 is ready. I need a surgeon and a cutdown tray... STAT!!!!!" Tom was wheeled away. Matt followed, wrapped in a warm blanket.

"Wait here." Matt was walked to the waiting area. "Someone will be right with you."

Matt looked up into the concerned face of the Emergency Medical Technician. "How is he... please tell me?" He whispered

"He's dying. I think our miracle already happened... we expected him to flatline in the ambulance. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry!" Matt's fragmented mind screamed. "Not half as sorry as James is gonna be when I get my hands on him."

...

"I hope to fuck you're holding on." Mark drove at least twenty MPH over the speed limit in his race to get to the airport. His only hope was that he could get on the next flight.

"Why, Marky... why did James hurt Tommy?" Jeff sobbed into Mark's back. He'd been crying non-stop.

"Jeff, when James feels threatened by someone, he lashes out in the only way he knows how... and that's to hurt that someone." Mark replied

"Like after his momma tried slashing his throat with a coat hanger?" Jeff asked

Mark gasped. If only it were that simple. "Something like that. Now just hang on."

Mark dipped the bike until it was almost parallel to the ground to take a sharp curve. The airport loomed less than a mile ahead. Mark sighed._ Just get me a fuckin' flight. That's all I fuckin' ask. _It was as close to a prayer as Mark had come in years.

He heard Jeff mumbling behind him. It sounded like he was saying 'Imma be good for ever and ever...' Mark smiled. If Jeff was trying to bargain with the Almighty, he was gonna need to offer a lot more than just promises of good behavior. This was God he was dealing with, not Santa Claus. But maybe things were going to work out, though. Upon hearing their story, a little unbelievable but Mark had a knack for getting his point across, the ticketing agent actually bumped people down to the stand-by list to allow them on the next flight out.

"No luggage." Mark said before she could ask.

"Follow me. Take over." Leaving her counter in the hands of one of her coworkers, she led Mark and Jeff to the gate.

"Get them on this flight now!" She barked, handing over their boarding passes.

Five minutes later, Mark and Jeff were settled in two first-class seats, and five minutes after that the plane was in the air.

Jeff curled up next to Mark the entire flight. While they were in the air, Mark called everyone he could, hoping desperately for some good news, or at least the name of the hospital Tom had been taken to. Glenn didn't know, Phil didn't know, and he couldn't reach Matt. Mark felt helpless. Completely, utterly helpless.

He called the office. All he got from JR was the name of the hospital before being yelled at for ten straight minutes, resulting in threats of legal action against James as well as being told that he was no longer welcome on Smackdown (or any other brand for that matter).

"Whatever." His sudden loss of employment did not seem real important to him right now. He ended the call, and looked to his left. Jeff was curled up on the seat with Bunny. It was the only thing he'd allowed Jeff to grab before their mad dash from the house only hours ago.

"I know where Tommy is." Mark said softly.

Jeff opened one eye. "But that's all I know." Mark added before Jeff could ask a lot of questions that Mark did not want to deal with, even if he had the answers.

It seemed to take forever just getting to the airport, then clearing customs, then finding a cab to take them to the right hospital, but in reality they were standing outside the hospital less than two hours after their flight took off.

"Jeff, maybe you should go in alone?" Mark suggested

"No!" Jeff started to shake. "Imma need you."

"I'm sure Matt's already here." Anywhere else but there, that's where Mark wanted to be. Preferably someplace where he could be alone.

"He's your b.. friend too."

Mark stared at the young man. Kid couldn't even say the word... maybe he really wants Tom back? While he tried to form some logical statement as to why he really shouldn't go in, Jeff grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside.

_If Matt's here, he ain't gonna be glad to see me._

He'd been wrong about a lot lately, but at least Mark was right about that.


	12. The Aftermath

James pulled over to a closed truck stop and shut his motorcycle off. He had already gotten through three towns and he was about an hour away from the next one. His rage had settled to the point where he had seen that he had majorly fucked up by pulling that stunt on national television, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it. Regret wasn't his style. What was done was done and he needed to keep going forward.

Going behind a tree, he changed out of Mark's gear and put his own clothes back on. Once he was done doing that, he took out one of his prepaid cell phones and dialed the number of Cooper's emergency prepaid cell phone. The phone he normally used had been destroyed and the remains had been tossed to different places. He didn't know if the WWE had the police looking for him yet, but he wasn't going to take any chances by keeping a cell phone that they could get his location from.

"Hello?" Cooper said.

"It's me," James replied.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING YOU DUMBASS? YOU DO NOT SLIT A GUY'S THROAT ON NATIONAL FUCKING TELEVISION!"

James quickly took the phone away from his ear. He had never heard Cooper yell so loudly in his life. "I know, I fucked up just a little bit."

"A little bit?" Cooper repeated incredulously. "A little bit? There is nothing little about this bit. You are so fucking stupid and so am I! I knew there was always a chance that you would do something to Tom, but I never, and I do mean NEVER, thought you would pull a stupid stunt like that. You broke the most important fucking rule that you taught Connor and me: never leave witnesses. You fucking let the entire world see that shit!"

James sighed and leaned back up against the tree. He figured he might as well make himself comfortable because this was probably going to take awhile. "Don't tell me shit that I don't already know Cooper," he said with a sigh. "That's not helping."

"Well you slitting Tom's throat on TV hasn't helped anyone, now has it?" Cooper replied nastily.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," James said. "I'm actually amazed that I pulled that off."

Cooper grunted in frustration. "Of course you are. You don't give a shit that Connor is absolutely scared to death that the police are going to take you away or that Mark had to literally carry Jeff out of the house screaming and crying so they could rush to whatever hospital Tom's been taken to."

James straightened up completely. "Mark went to check on Tom?" he asked quietly.

"Well he at least took Jeff there," Cooper said. "Jeff was in no condition to get there by himself. Fuck Daddy, Jeff still loves Tom...or maybe loved because he could be dead by now. Hell I don't know what's going on. I texted Mark but they still don't know anything."

James didn't say a word. He didn't know what to think. He wasn't too surprised by the fact that Jeff still loved Tom. It was something he had kind of been expecting to be revealed. But the fact that Mark probably was there by now made him uneasy. What if Mark's feelings for Tom were stronger than what they had? What if attacking Tom hadn't or wouldn't make a damn bit of difference? Suddenly he felt like he needed to go back and see it for himself.

"NO!" Cooper yelled suddenly. "Don't you dare do what I think you're thinking about doing! Don't you fucking try to go and find what hospital they're at!"

"Cooper calm down," James said. He really was getting tired of his older son's yelling. "I won't let myself get seen again. I just wanna-"

"Dad, if you go to that hospital, I will never fucking forgive you," Cooper said angrily. "Connor needs you to come with us. Go to Baton Rouge and get to Raul's house."

James groaned. Raul was Cooper's "sugar daddy" so to speak. Those two had met during spring break once and while both swore that nothing physical happened between them, Raul had a tendency to shower Cooper with gifts whenever they met up. "Why Raul? I don't like him."

"Simple: Raul is filthy rich. Raul has a private jet. Raul can get us the fuck out of the country without you being seen. Now considering the nature of your latest stunt, wouldn't that be helpful at the moment?"

"Cooper-"

"Do it for Mommy," Connor said. He was finally joining in on the conversation. "Please Daddy, come with us. Mommy would have liked that."

James sighed in frustration. He did not like have Annabelle thrown into his face like that, mainly because her death was the only death that had ever really affected him in a human way. "Fine. I'll see you guys there." He hung up the phone and sighed. He still needed to get to Mark somehow, but his boys were going to have to come first this time. They would probably skin him alive if he did anything else that could be considered remotely stupid (and that was not an exaggeration). "I'll be back for you Marky," he said under his breath. "You and I are not finished yet. Not by a long fucking shot."

.....

Mark knew he should have just stayed away. Going into that hospital was now on the list of dumb fucking ideas he had gone through with lately. As soon as Matt saw him, the raven haired Hardy punched him directly in the face with as much force as he could muster. "You son of a bitch!" Matt yelled as loud as he could. "You and Tom just had to fuck around with each other, didn't you? Look what your relationship did!"

"Matt stop!" Jeff sobbed. He looked scared to death of the rage Matt was in. "It's not his fault! How was he supposed to know that was going to happen?"

Because I know James, Mark said to himself as he let Matt keep hitting him. I let myself get so wrapped up in being pissed off at him and being with Tom and keeping that a secret that I ignored every warning sign James made available. Hell, even without the warning signs, I should have stopped to think about the possibility of this.

He blocked the next punch Matt threw and forcibly held Hardy still. "You have to calm down," he whispered in Matt's ear so nobody else could hear them. "I know this isn't fair to tell you this right now, but Jeff needs you to be strong. He's not going to be able to handle it if the worst happens."

The fight just went out of Matt completely. He closed his eyes and rested his head against Mark's chest. Mark rubbed his back gently, almost surprised that Matt hadn't kept trying to fight him. That didn't give him a good feeling in the pit of his stomach. That had to mean that the worst was to be expected.

"Matty?" Jeff said in a shaky voice. He obviously was not comforted by Matt's current actions.

Matt took a deep breath and let go of Mark. Without saying a word, he hugged Jeff tightly. Jeff whimpered and Mark turned away from the brotherly embrace, trying to think of an excuse to get the hell out of there. He was so fucked up from worrying about whether Tom would live or not, wanting to throttle James, wondering where James even was, actually being worried about James too. Feeling guilty for being worried about the psycho in a time like this and feeling bad for Matt and Jeff had put him in a position to where he couldn't take it anymore. He needed to get somewhere to clear his head.

Of course, just when he was about to make a bullshit excuse about needing to use the bathroom, was when a doctor started walking towards them.

"How is he, doc?" Mark asked

Matt glared at Mark, suddenly wanting to punch him again. _What gives you the right to ask?_

The doctor, tugged nervously at his collar, while looking at Mark.

Jeff took this to mean the worst had already happened and he buried his face in Matt's chest, his whimpers turning into harsh sobs.

"For his size, we figured that he would normally have about twelve pints of blood in his body. It looks like he lost eight of them before the EMT's were able to get the bleeding under control."

_That motherfucker._ Mark clenched his fists.

"For whatever reason, the EMT's only had three units of blood in their rig, so when Mr. Hardy arrived, he had barely half the blood in his body that he normally would need to survive..."

Jeff's already pale skin lightened ever further.

"Well, top him up!" Matt shouted

"This isn't a car we're talking about." Mark answered "Let the doc finish what he has to say."

"I wish it were that easy. Your, uhm, brother has AB negative blood: that is the rarest type in the world. Less than one percent of the population has that specific blood type. We've pumped in an additional two units of O negative, but the more type-specific we can give him, the better chance he will have of survival." The doctor suddenly averted his gaze.

"I gotta go." Mark had heard enough.

Matt seemed to wordlessly agree with that, but Jeff was of another mind. "Please stay Marky." He let go of Matt and threw himself at the Deadman.

"No, really, I gotta go." Mark didn't mean leave. His stomach was doing cartwheels. "I'll be back, don't worry." _Yeah, someone's gotta take care of James if he decides to do something even dumber._

Mark tore out of Jeff's death grip and bolted to the bathroom. He just got inside when waves of nausea overtook him and he emptied the contents of his stomach into the nearest toilet. Some of the anger coursing through him seemed to leave with the bitter bile, but not nearly enough for Mark to trust himself not to do something James-like.

"What the hell!" Mark yelled, feeling an unfamiliar wetness on his face. He wiped his cheeks and they came away wet. He kicked the door of the stall open, scaring the guy washing his hands at the sink who left without drying them. Now the only person in the restroom, Mark looked at himself in the mirror, discovering what the wetness on his face really was.

"Since when do you cry, Callaway?" Mark pounded the counter, cracking it. "Get a fuckin' grip! Jeff's the crier, not you!"

Several deep breaths calmed him a little, but only if he didn't think about how it was his fault that Tom was dying. When that happened, all the other sad things that had happened in his life seemed to flood his memory and more tears would start to flow.

"Enough of this crap! Now I really hafta fuckin' go! I'll just tell them I can't stay here. They'll understand... I hope."

Mark returned to the waiting area, but Matt and Jeff were nowhere to be found.

"Are you looking for your friends?" A middle-aged gentleman with a bloody patch over his one eye asked.

"Yeah." Mark answered

"Someone came for them and they went upstairs. They asked me to give you this."

Mark was handed a note that seemed to be written on the back of a blank chart. "Doc says we can see Tommy. Wait for us."

Mark scrunched the note into a ball. Waiting was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Fuck!" He swore. Part of him wanted to bolt and another part of him wanted to go up with them. After all, Tom was his boyfriend. _Of course, if I had admitted that right from the start, then I probably could have gotten James to attack me instead. That could have saved everyone a whole lot of pain._

...

"He's very pale." Jeff was gently holding his unconscious brother's hand.

"Until we see how the arterial sutures are holding, we have to be very careful with how fast we replace the blood loss. As I mentioned, he lost a considerable portion of his blood volume at the arena, and I'll swear that those three units the EMT's gave him ended up on the floor of the ambulance." The doctor replaced the empty bag on the IV stand with a full one. "Especially since we're still having a hard time finding enough AB negative."

"What are his chances, doc?" Matt asked

The doctor shook his head. "Don't ask me that because I don't know. We got lucky just getting him this far."

"Anything we can do?" Matt asked

"Can we talk privately?" The doctor replied

"Uhm, sure, I guess. You gonna be okay, Jeffro?"

Jeff was in his own world, rubbing the back of Tom's hand, promising the same things he'd promised God Almighty on the back of Mark's bike. Matt only caught part of Jeff's ramblings, something about "...Imma never drink your beer again and I'll clean the bathroom and take Lizard for walks when you're not home and..."

Matt took that to mean yes and followed the doctor into the corridor.

"Mr. Hardy, this is very difficult for me to say, but in my medical opinion, you're brother is not going to live through the night..."

"But what about the transfusion?" Matt demanded "You said..."

"I know what I said earlier, but let me spell this out for you: right now, Tom is still losing blood faster than we can pump it in. I know what you're thinking. But if we pump it in faster and he blows a seam, he's dead in seconds not hours. I'm giving you and your brother a chance to say good-bye to him. I suggest you take it."

Matt's jaw dropped.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing more that I can do for him. Take my words to heart and make your peace with him. We did our best..."

"Well your best wasn't fucking good enough." Matt yelled.

"Do you want to tell your brother or would you like me to?"

"I'll do it. You've done enough already." Ironic that if the doctor had done enough, then this conversation wouldn't be taking place.

Matt took several moments to attempt to compose himself. Hoping that Jeff didn't hear his earlier outburst, he returned to bedside and watched his brother. His respiration was very shallow... maybe seven or eight breaths per minute and his heart rate was 40 BPM. His blood pressure was also really low and dropping by the minute.

"Matty, is He gonna take Tommy away too? Just like he took momma and daddy?"

Matt crossed the room and took his younger brother into his arms, just like he had when they were children and something would upset him.

"Jeffro, He works in his own way." Matt stroked his hair softly. "If He decides that it's time for Tom to come home..."

"Imma love him!" Jeff wailed "He can't leave!"

Matt struggled with words. He knew that Jeff meant what he'd said, but if he hadn't gone to the bar that night, then none of this would be happening and this conversation would be totally unnecessary.

"Jeff, he's hurting really bad right now. Wouldn't you rather he be somewhere where he wasn't hurting at all?" Matt held Jeff tightly, wishing he could take away all of the sadness coursing through Jeff's frame.

"Imma want him back." Jeff's voice was a little muffled by Matt's shirt. "Pwease bring him back!"

"I wish I could little bro, but I'm not God." Matt sighed

...

Mark was unable to sit still at all in the waiting room and in spite of the note from Jeff, he wasn't looking forward to a long wait.

"I need to go for a walk. If those two guys come back, tell them I'll be right back."

The man with the eye patch had gone up earlier, and his new seating companion was the mother of a hit and run victim. She nodded over her knitting, a little thankful for the peace and quiet.

Mark stepped outside and called James. Maybe if he just talked to him, things could start to straighten themselves out. Unable to reach him on his cell, Mark gave up after five tries.

"James, what the fuck were you thinking?" Mark slammed his own phone closed. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. "If you think that I'm gonna come crawling back to you because you took Tom out of the picture, then you're wrong... you're DEAD wrong!"

Seconds later, Cooper texted him again, wondering if there was any further information.

"WHERE R U?" Mark texted back.

"CAN'T TELL U." Cooper replied

"IS J W/ U?" Mark asked

"NO." Cooper responded

"WHERE?" Mark repeated

"IDK." It wasn't technically a lie, but not exactly the truth either. Cooper had an idea of where James was, assuming he was gonna meet them at Raul's Baton Rouge spread as soon as he could, but there was no way that he was telling Mark. At least not then. Maybe once James, Connor, and himself figured out what their next move was, then they would let Mark know.

"OK. TEXT ME WHEN U KNOW PLS. TTYL." Mark snapped the phone closed, then realized he hadn't directly answered Cooper's question. _Like those kids ever gave more than half a shit about me or anyone else around them anyways._

He walked back inside, feeling exactly the same way he did when he left, but that soon changed when he saw Matt anxiously scanning the waiting room. The moment he saw Mark, he ran over to him and grabbed him by the collar.

"What the fuck gives Hardy?" Mark demanded

"I know we ain't ever gonna agree on much more, but if you wanna say goodbye to Tom, you better shut up and follow me!" Matt dragged him toward Tom's room.

"Goodbye?" Mark thought "Fuck Lawson, now you've really done it."


	13. Second Chances

"_Fuck fuck fuckity fuck!" Mark shouted at the top of his lungs. "The rain can't ever wait until I'm fucking inside, can it? It always has to start pouring right the hell now."_

_James laughed. He and Mark had just pulled into the driveway of his house and now they were trying to get inside to escape from the pouring rain. He almost really didn't see the point in trying to hurry anymore because they were soaked to the bone anyway, but he decided to just humor Mark for once. "Damn keys," he said as he tried to dig them out of his pocket. "These things don't want to come out of my pocket Marky."_

"_Well make them damn it!" Mark said impatiently. "I'm fucking getting soaked out here!"_

_James managed to get the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. "You look like a wet dog," he said with a laugh as they went inside._

"_Ha ha, very funny," Mark replied. "I—"_

_James suddenly pushed Mark up against the wall and kissed him roughly. Mark rolled his eyes and kissed him back, trying to push him back so he could dominate. But at the moment, James was a lot more determined than Mark was. His hands began groping Mark roughly, ripping the wet fabric of the Deadman's shirt and exposing his chest._

A car horn blaring scared James right out of his flashback and he swerved back into his own lane just in time to avoid a head long collision. "Oh shit balls, holy shit balls," he said under his breath. That had scared the fuck out of him, and the only good that had come from that was now he was wide awake.

But for how much longer? The insomnia that had settled in before the attack on Tom was catching up on him. He needed to keep going so he could get to Baton Rogue as soon as possible, but that was still a few hours away, and he had maybe another half hour before his tank went beyond empty and he was pulverized while wrecking his bike because he went to sleep.

He looked around and saw that he was coming up on a small town that he had probably never heard of in his life. A town meant a gas station. Gas stations sold energy drinks. Energy drinks meant that he did not die in a horrible wreck. It all sounded good to him.

A few minutes later, he was pulling up to the first gas station he saw. As he got off his bike, he checked his phone and saw that he had a voicemail from Cooper. Ducking more into the shadows so he would be harder to see, he played the message Cooper had left for him.

"I texted Mark to see what was going on at the hospital," Cooper said, sounding pretty tired himself. "He didn't really tell me anything but he did ask about you. I'm not sure whether he was looking for you to make sure you got away or to see if I would rat you out so he could come and throttle you. Anyways, please don't decide to do anything stupid. Just get to Raul's and we'll work this shit out from there." There was a momentary silence that made James think the message was over and just as he was about to put his phone away, Cooper spoke up again. "Dad I love you. Now seriously, haul some fucking ass."

James stared at his phone in disbelief. Cooper never talked about loving anyone. They all knew that he did love James and Connor, but he was one of those people who never felt the need to say it. "Fucking boy is trying to guilt trip me into not turning the hell around," James muttered under his breath as he put the phone back into his pocket. "And it's working. Fucking little shit."

The door to the gas station was locked, but it came open with one good kick. The man behind the register jumped about a foot in the air. "Sir we're closed right now," he managed to gasp out as he stared at James with wide eyes.

James shrugged. "Tell it to someone who cares." He walked over to the drinks section and grabbed about three energy drinks.

The man straightened himself up to full height, which wasn't all that intimidating considering the fact that he was a foot shorter than James was. "Sir I—"

"Shut up!" James snapped.

"Okay," the man said meekly.

Satisfied, James set the drinks on the counter and took his wallet out of his pocket. "I ought to just punch you in the face and fucking take these things without paying for them," he grumbled under his breath. "It's the least I could do after you were so rude to me."

The man gulped. "Me? I'm rude? You just about took the door off its hinges! My boss is going to kill me for letting that happen!"

James shook his head. People always used the word kill so liberally. Just because someone was gong to give them a verbal ass kicking did not mean that they were going to be killed. It was sickening that people took the thing he did the most so lightly. He was tempted to kill this fucker right then and there just to show the bastard what a real killer was like, but he somehow managed to keep his self control by just throwing a ten dollar bill at the guy and storming out before he could even get his change.

"Fucking hell," he muttered, taking deep breaths in an attempt to somehow resist the bloodlust that was starting to take over. "I have to get a hold of myself." He opened one of the drinks and chugged it in about fifteen seconds. Once he was done with it, he crumpled it up and tossed the can on to the ground, not giving a shit that he was littering. He opened the second one and repeated the process he had just done before. Feeling a little more energized, he got back on his bike. His knife felt extremely heavy against his ankle, where it was tied up on at the moment. Usually it felt like another body part to him, but he knew why it was bothering him tonight. It was because of who it was from.

"_Marky I want my surprise!" James whined impatiently. It was his birthday and he was trying to make Mark give him his present. "I'm the birthday boy damn it! You're supposed to give me my stuff when I tell you to!"_

_Mark rolled his eyes. "Hold your horses asshole. I've got it right here."_

_James snatched it away from Mark and tore off the wrapping paper as fast as he could. "If you only got me a box, then you're in for a major ass whooping."_

"_The present is inside the box you doof." Mark sounded like he was getting really exasperated. "My God, do I have to tell you everything?"_

_James mocked Mark under his breath as he took the lid off the box. Inside of it was a giant hunting knife encrusted with red stones. "Ooooh it's pretty!" James said happily. He was very well aware that he had almost squealed, but he would kill anyone who even dared to point that out. He took the knife out of the box and looked at it eagerly. It felt absolutely perfect in his hands._

"_I'm glad you like it," Mark said. He looked amused by James's reaction. "It cost me a lot of money to get it. Those stones are actually fucking rubies."_

_James didn't give a shit about the rubies. He only wanted one thing out of this knife. "Let's go kill a bitch!"_

James chuckled and shook his head. He remembered Mark's exasperated look that was caused by his one track mind. But the chuckle didn't last long. He reached down to his ankle and pulled out the knife. It still had a bit of Tom's blood on the blade and he stared at that for the longest time. He wondered if Tom had died yet. He knew that it would be a miracle if he hadn't. It wasn't like he was an amateur at slitting throats after all.

_Will it make a difference if Tom lives or dies though? Will this get Mark back? What the hell am I going to do if it doesn't?_ The thought of functioning without Mark didn't seem right to him. Mark was his other half. It just felt wrong that everything had come to this.

_Fuck it,_ James thought to himself as he put the knife away and started his bike back up. _I'll call Mark when I get to Baton Rouge. There's got to be a way to sort this shit out._

……

_Mark ran into the hospital as fast as he could, nearly pushing a few people over as he went. He had been out on the road when he had gotten the call and said that Annabelle had taken a sudden turn for the worse. The cancer that had been spreading all through her body had hit her liver a couple of days ago and this was going to be it._

_Glenn was already waiting for him outside the room Annabelle was supposed to be staying in. "She's gone," Glenn said before he could even ask. "She died a half hour ago. James won't let anyone move her body though. He even kicked me out because I tried to tell him that it was time for the doctors to move her."_

_Mark sighed. He and Annabelle had never really gotten along (with the exception of one drunken one night stand that spawned Cooper) but he hadn't wanted her to die. He knew what she meant to James. She was probably the only reason that James was even remotely human sometimes. "I'll go in there," he said. "I'll take care of it."_

_Of course, Mark regretted going in there as soon as he walked into the room. It wasn't the fact that Annabelle's corpse was in there that bothered him. No, it was the fact that Connor and Cooper were snuggled up against her sound asleep, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their mother was not with them anymore._

"_They know Marky. They're not stupid. They just cried themselves to sleep not that long ago."_

_Mark turned around and saw that James was sitting in the corner. He had a look on his face that Mark had never seen before. "James I'm sorry," Mark said quietly. He walked over to his lover and knelt down beside him. _

_James didn't say anything. He just buried his face into his hands and refused to look up. Mark had no idea what James was doing until he noticed that the psycho's shoulders were shaking. Then he realized that James was actually crying for the first time since he was a newborn._

Mark literally had to tear himself out of his little trip down memory lane. He was now in Tom's room with Matt and Jeff, and Tom looked just as pale as Annabelle did eighteen years ago. The only difference was that cancer hadn't ripped Tom apart. The blood loss James's knife had caused had done that just fine all by itself.

"Do you have anything to say to him?" Matt asked. He sounded like he was barely controlling himself at the moment. Obviously his anger towards Mark wasn't going away any time soon—not that Mark blamed him in the very least.

Mark took a deep breath and walked over to the opposite side of Tom's bed so Jeff didn't have to move. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, gently touching Tom on the head. It was really all he could think to say at the moment with Matt and Jeff listening. "I know it probably doesn't make a damn bit of difference, but I am sorry."

Jeff sniffled a little bit and Matt continued to glare at Mark. Mark knew what Matt probably wanted him to say. He wanted him to say that he would get James for this. But Mark wasn't about to make any promises that he wasn't sure that he could keep. He would smack the hell out of James when he saw him again—that was guaranteed. But he couldn't bring himself to vow that he would kill James in revenge for Tom, which was probably what Matt was thinking of doing. As much as he hated to see Tom like this, he wasn't ready to take anything that far yet.

"I wish I could take this all back," Mark went on, continuing his quest to ignore Matt. "I wish I hadn't teased James about liking Jeff in that bar that night. I wish I had just brought Jeff home to you after we saved him. And I really wish we hadn't started our relationship. It's not cuz you weren't great or anything, but you probably wouldn't have been attacked by James if we hadn't started seeing each other."

"Damn right," Matt said under his breath.

Mark glared at Matt. "You know, that is not helping right now."

Matt just looked away from him and stared at Tom. Mark sighed and did the same thing. He was starting to wish that Tom would either just wake up or die already. This waiting wasn't doing anybody any good.

"Matty? Mark?" Jeff said timidly. His voice sounded like it was barely staying together. "Can I be alone with Tom?"

Mark and Matt exchanged looks. Mark nodded just a little bit and then Matt nodded too. "Okay," Matt said gently. "But you call for us if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Jeff said quietly.

Mark gave Tom one last look before exiting the room as fast as he could. He didn't make it far before leaning up against the wall and steadying himself there. His cell phone felt heavy in his pocket and he wanted to call James. What he would say, he didn't know. But one way or another, a very serious and potentially violent confrontation needed to take place sooner rather than later.

Jeff held his husband's hand. The warmth that he usually felt holding him was gone. There was nothing except coldness.

"Tommy..." Jeff swallowed loudly. "I don't want you to go. I know it hurts and you'd rather be somewhere it didn't, but I want..." He realized how self-centered that sounded and quickly changed his tactics as well as his tone. "I need you to stay. I know Mark thinks it's all his fault, but it isn't. I fucked up."

Jeff closed his eyes, thankful that he was alone in the room. He laid his head in the crook of Tom's elbow. It was like curling up with a block of ice.

"Please come back. I want to be with you forever and ever." Jeff squeezed Tom's hand as tightly as he could. "I don't love James. I love you." He whispered, his eyes watering.

Jeff watched Tom's chest rise and fall slowly. With each exhalation, Jeff's chest tightened, knowing that it could be the last.

"Please?" Jeff moaned

Tom took one last hitching breath, and then opened his eyes for a second. There was a flash of recognition, then he closed them again.

"Tommy?" Jeff's voice rose a notch. "Tommy!"

Both Matt and Mark heard his last shout and ran into the room, expecting the worst.

"Jeff?" Matt asked "What's wrong?"

"It's Tommy!" Jeff pointed. "He opened his eyes!"

"Are you sure?" Mark asked while Matt leaned over the body in the bed. "I don't see..."

Suddenly, Tom's eyes fluttered open again.

"Holy fuck!" Matt screamed like he'd seen the dead rise up. He'd had before, but this wasn't a movie. This was the really real world here.

"Mark, get that fuckin' doctor!" Matt yelled

Normally Mark would've argued or at least used several obscenities, but this time he was more than happy to do what Matt demanded. It took his mind off what he was planning to do to James for a minute at least.

"Jeff, just because he opened his eyes doesn't mean he's going to be around much longer..."

"But it's good that he did, right?" Jeff looked up at his brother, his emerald eyes shining with his recently-shed tears.

"Let's wait to see what the doctor has to say. Mark should be back soon."

Mark was at the admitting desk, trying to find the moron who'd told them not an hour ago that Tom wasn't going to make it.

"I'm sorry, but he's in surgery right now." The nurse tried to be as polite as she could, but Mark was having none of that. Part of him wanted to give it to her real good.

"Then get someone who can look at my friend." Mark was almost begging. "I don't care if it's a janitor who used to put together model airplanes, just someone... please?"

"Just a moment. I'll see what I can do." The nurse quickly turned to the roster.

"Dr. Greene or Dr. Ross to admitting. Dr. Greene or Dr. Ross to admitting. STAT!" She added the urgency when Mark looked uneasily at her.

"I'll send them right in." She promised "You don't have to wait here."

"I'll wait." Mark responded.

Less than a minute later, a doctor arrived. After a quick conversation with the duty nurse, he approached Mark.

"I'm Doug Ross. You needed someone?"

"Yeah. One of your coworkers told us that our friend wasn't gonna make it, but he just opened his eyes. Can you take a look at him?"

Ross shrugged. "Of course... patient's name?"

"Hardy. Tom Hardy."

"Oh yes, the knife wound. I assisted with the surgery. Let me just grab his chart."

Matt and Jeff were still hovering over Tom when Mark and Dr. Ross returned, accompanied by a nurse.

"Looks like we might've had our miracle?" Matt asked, hopefully.

"Hopefully it is more than just a brief period of lucidity." Ross raised Tom's left eyelid and shone a light into it, then did the same with the right.

"Pupils equal and responsive to light... what's his BP?"

"Seventy over fifty."

"Still pretty low." The doctor looked at the bag that had been collecting the blood that was pumping out of Tom. "But there's less than 200 mills here. I think we might have a shot at this, but I'd want a second opinion."

"Dr. Shepherd isn't going to come out of surgery for another six hours."

"Get Dr. Greene in here. STAT!" Ross yelled

"Doctor, is he gonna make it?" Jeff asked, his mouth shaking.

"I'm making no promises, but it looks like he's not losing any more volume. I think we might be able to start transfusing at a faster rate, although I am a little concerned about the lack of Mr. Hardy's blood type." Dr. Ross flipped through Tom's chart, then put his hand on Tom's neck, gently pressing against the vein. "His carotid pulse is still very weak, but his rhythm is steady. I think we can pull this off."

Dr. Greene put in his appearance and the two doctors conferred, while Matt and Jeff held onto each other, Mark a few steps away. Greene seemed to be nodding in agreement with whatever Ross was suggesting.

"Okay, we're gonna try a full transfusion." Ross announced "But we're still really short on AB-negative blood. Is any of you AB-negative?"

Matt and Jeff shook their heads.

"I'm not." Mark said "But I know someone who is!"

"Who?" Jeff asked

Matt looked at Mark. "No! No fuckin' way!" He shouted

Jeff looked at his brother. "Matty, why not?"

"You're talking about James, aren't you?" Matt demanded "Why would we let that psycho near Tom again? It's his fault we're in this mess in the first place!"

Mark sighed. "Doc, how much riskier is the procedure without Tom's own blood type?"

"Not a whole lot, but the recovery time would be faster." Ross replied. Greene nodded his agreement.

"This is crazy!"

"Jeff, whaddaya say?" Mark ignored Matt yet again.

"Jeffro, you can't be seriously thinking about this?" Seeing that Mark wasn't paying attention to him, Matt tried to convince Jeff that this idea was stupid.

"Marky, do you think he'd do it for Tom?" Jeff asked

"Not for Tom, but that son of a bitch has a soft spot for you." Mark sighed. And maybe if he thinks that I'll get off his ass as well.

"If we are gonna do this, then the sooner the better." Ross added

"Let me deal with James, but Jeff I may need you."

Mark and Jeff left the hospital room, followed by the medical personnel. Matt was left alone with Tom, who still hadn't said a word. Matt grasped his hand.

"Don't worry Tommy." Matt said through clenched teeth. "No matter what happens, I swear that I will make James hurt for this. I swear."


	14. To Help or Not to Help

James had never before been happy to be anywhere near Raul's place nor did he think he would ever be happy to be near it again. But at the moment, it was a relief to be there. It meant he could fucking rest for a little while before dealing with whatever it was he was going to do next.

_Or maybe I won't be resting_, he thought to himself as he saw Connor, Cooper and Raul all rushing out to meet them. Cooper had his regular phone out and obviously had it on speaker phone because he was yelling at the person on the over line without having it up to his ear.

"That is the most insane thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth!" Cooper yelled angrily. "Why would you even think that we would let him go back there? It took everything in our power to get him to us! You son of a bitch, you're setting him up, aren't you?"

Connor ran over and gave James a hug. "Mark's on the phone," he whispered in James's ear. "He and Jeff want you to go back and help save Tom."

"What?" James said in disbelief. "Tom hasn't croaked yet?"

Raul stretched his arms. "Love's gentle wings saved him Senor Lawson. They kept him from the father above and the devil below."

James rolled his eyes. When Raul talked like that, it meant he had popped some kind of pill that made him way too loopy. "I'd stop that shit right now you fucking idiot, because if another sentence like that comes out of your mouth, it's getting written on your tombstone."

Raul sighed and shook his head. "You're so violent Senor Lawson. Have you ever considered getting into counseling?"

"Have you ever considered not sounding like Elton John trying to sound like Razor Ramon? Because I would really fucking appreciate that."

Cooper handed James his phone. "Tell that parasite that is your ex to fuck off and die, because he's not listening to me!"

"Me? I'm the fucking parasite?" Mark shouted angrily. "Boy, when I see you again, I am killing the fuck out of you!"

James smiled a little bit. There was the Mark he knew and loved. "Marky calm down. What the fuck are you calling for?"

"You need to come back here," Mark said. "Like right now. Tom needs a blood transfusion."

"Uh huh, but how does this involve me exactly?" James was completely confused by why Mark thought he cared about Tom's fate.

"Tom has AB negative blood," Mark explained. "You're the only person I know that has that blood type. The hospital doesn't have enough of it so you need to get your ass back here and donate some."

"You see? You see how fucked up this idea is?" Cooper said angrily. His trust issues with Mark were all boiling over the surface now. "There could be cops or lawyers or maybe he's just got a gun and he's going to—"

"Cooper darling, calm down!" Raul interrupted before Connor and James could silence Cooper with a smack. "Senor Callaway loves your poppa. He would never do anything like that."

"Who the fuck is that?" Mark asked.

"Nobody," James said quickly. He turned off the speaker phone so he could talk to Mark privately. He then walked away a little bit just in case Cooper decided to start yelling again. "Now seriously, what the fuck makes you think I would want to come back there to save Tom's life. I thought me trying to kill him made my feelings about him perfectly clear."

Mark sighed impatiently. "James please, do not be difficult right now. I am on my knees here, literally begging for you to come back and help."

James clenched his fists. He didn't want to fight with Mark but he felt himself quickly going down that road. He was stupid like that. "Oh so you're not dating him, but you're going to beg for me to save him? Is this how it is?"

Mark groaned. "Fine! You know what? I was dating Tom! Or maybe I still am! I don't know anymore! What I do know is that you need to come back and just give Tom some of your blood and then we'll straighten this shit out."

James started to say something in response to that when he heard sniffling from Mark's end. "James please, come back and help Tommy," Jeff begged. The twink was definitely crying. "I don't want Tommy to die! I'll go back to him and you can have Mark back. I'll do anything you want! Please please please just help Tommy!"

James kicked a random rock as hard as he could. "That is not fair Mark! That is cheating! You know he sounds like Connor when he does that!"

"It's not cheating if it works," Mark replied. He was talking very quietly now. "James, I am begging you, if you want to save our relationship at all, then come back here. I haven't even talked to any cops so that's not a concern yet. And if they show up, I'll help you, okay? I'll get you away so you don't go to jail. And I'll try to make sure Matt doesn't provoke you into attacking him, although I can't make any promises on that one."

James could feel his resolve breaking. Mark had that effect on him when he started going off like this. "Marky—"

"Please," Mark said forcefully. "I do care about Tom but I still love you. I may kick your ass still after all this, but it'll be a love filled ass kicking to get out all the frustration and shit."

"A love filled ass kicking?" James repeated.

"Yes damn it. Now please, do this for me. Come back so we can figure out where the hell to go from here."

James sighed. He knew Cooper was going to kill him for this but Mark had just thrown his dignity and pride away by begging like that. Mark didn't do that for just anybody. "How do I know you're not tricking me?" he asked, uselessly grabbing at straws to prevent himself from going back and actually saving a life.

"Come on Lawson. You know me better than anyone else. You knew I was lying about my thing with Tom and you would know if I was lying right now."

Damn it, James knew Mark was right. That was what sucked. "You're lucky I love you," he said with a sigh. "I'll see you in awhile."

"No!" Cooper said in disbelief as James hung up the phone. "Are you serious right now?"

"I'm going back," James said. "Raul, can you get us there on your jet?"

Raul nodded. "Just tell me where to go and I'll have you there faster than any commercial airline could ever dream of doing."

"Let me go get Snoopy first!" Connor exclaimed.

James frowned as Connor took off running towards the house. "Boys, you don't have to—"

"We're going with you," Cooper said reluctantly. He looked ready to smack James. "I don't trust Mark as far as Jeff could throw him."

James shook his head. "It's Matt I'm…well not worried about, but there's a good chance that there will be another Hardy I'll be attacking before the day is over."

Cooper shook his head. "Is this going to be worth it Dad?"

"For Mark, anything is worth it. Now quit being a shit head and let's roll."

….

Mark hung up the phone, a look of triumph on his face. "It worked. The son of a bitch is on his way back."

"Yay!" Jeff danced around.

"I still don't fuckin' like this... what if James is just saying this to make us think he's coming back?" Matt was pacing the floor. "There's gotta be some way to do this that doesn't involve that psycho boyfriend of yours."

Mark glared at the middle Hardy. "The only person who is allowed to call James psycho is me! You already got a receipt comin', don't make it two."

Matt swallowed nervously. "Stupid brother... why can't he have normal blood?" He grumbled, dropping into a chair in an obvious sulk.

"I assume that this means you have a viable donor?" Dr. Ross stood over the head of Tom's bed, scribbling on his chart.

"We hope so." Jeff cuddled against Mark's side and got his hair ruffled for his efforts.

"Hey! Only Tommy can do that!" Jeff pouted

Mark rolled his eyes. _Why did I pick this family to get involved in?_ "Hopefully he'll be doing that to you very soon."

"Good. His body seems to be responding to the O-negative, but I'd like to get some of his own type in as soon as possible." Ross said.

Jeff was chewing on his lip ring, a sign that he was thinking deeply. "James' blood isn't gonna attack the other blood is it?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if it did," Matt muttered "Jackass causes shit no matter what he does!"

Mark opened his mouth to protest, but before the right insult could be formed, Tom spoke his first words since the accident.

"Matt..." He gasped

"Yeah, bro?" Matt replied.

"Shut the fuck up." Tom wheezed between each word.

"Easy, Mr. Hardy. You're still very weak," Ross cautioned.

Tom rolled his eyes back into his head. His mouth moved in a very long insult, but no words came out.

"You have nothing to worry about," Ross told Jeff. "The patient's own blood type is compatible with the donor blood and it is very rare that there is a problem."

"But it has happened, right?" It sounded like after everything Mark had done to get James to come back, Matt was trying to tear it all apart.

"Matty! Imma slap you if you don't stop!" Jeff put his hands on his hips and pouted at him.

"And I'll do a fuck sight worse myself!" Mark growled

"Gentlemen, if you're going to argue, then I'm going to ask you all to leave. I'm trying to keep my patient's blood pressure stable and this isn't helping."

The three stopped yelling at each other long enough to stare at the doctor.

"Perfect. That is the precise amount of noise I want. Anything more is unacceptable."

Matt opened his mouth to protest, but stern looks from Dr. Ross, Jeff, and Mark put a stop to that. Shaking his head in disgust, he left the room.

...

"What the hell is taking so damn long?" James shouted.

"Chill the fuck out," Cooper snapped. "We're not going to get there faster just because you're throwing a temper tantrum."

"For all his money, why the fuck couldn't Raul get a plane with some fuckin' leg room?" James kicked the back of the seat in front of him. It snapped in two and James laughed at the destruction.

"Hey!" Cooper yelled "What the fuck?"

"Oh, please. That guy shits hundred dollar bills." Now that he finally had enough room to stretch out, James was able to get into a semi-comfortable position.

"Whatever. I still can't believe you're actually agreeing to do this."

"Who said I agreed to do anything?" James smirked.

"But you said..."

"All I said was that I'll see him in a while." The knife was out and James dangled it in front of his eyes, mesmerized by the way the sunlight bounced off the blade. "I never said anything about helping."

"Then why are you going back?"

James thought about it. _Why am I going back? It's not like I give a flying fuck about Tom_! "If it'd make them shut up, I'da promised anything." _Anything to make Mark stop begging like that. That was hard for me to listen to._

Cooper rolled his eyes. "You're full of shit Dad. You just don't like the thought of saving Tom because you don't see what's in it for you."

Well that wasn't too far from the truth. He knew Mark was dead set on having him come back, but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't see why having Tom live was going to fix a damn thing. More people in this mess equaled more problems. If a few were gotten rid of, then they would all be better off.

That was what James was now trying to tell himself anyway.

"Snoopy, Daddy just wants an excuse to kill someone," Connor explained to the puppy.

"First of all, I do not need an excuse to kill anyone," James said. "Second of all, I haven't actually decided what I'm going to do yet. I could help his life or I might not. I've officially decided to decide when I get to the hospital."

Cooper shook his head. "So you're telling me that we're flying all the way back to that hospital because you told Mark that you'd come back and he's taken that to mean you're coming to save Tom, but you might not be because you're kind of an asshole like that?"

James frowned. "Okay, now when you say it like that, you make it sound like I'm one of the bad guys here."

Cooper threw up his hands. "I'm done," he declared. "I'm officially done with this shit. I say save him because we're bothering to go back and Mark will bitch if you don't do it, but it's your decision. If you can't be the bigger man and just fucking do something for someone else that is actually considered to be a decent thing to do, then that's your issue."

James rolled his eyes. Great, now Cooper had him thinking that he should just save Tom. Fuck, what the hell was he going to do? He knew what Jeff wanted and he knew what Mark was expecting, but damn it, saving someone's life was not in his nature. His instincts were all out of whack even thinking about doing that. He shook his head and went back to staring at the knife. _I'll figure out my move when I get there. Maybe I'll get lucky and Tom will either be fine enough without my blood or he'll croak before I get there. Then I won't have to make a decision._

...

Anger raged through the middle Hardy boy. Matt had not experienced feelings like this since the night he'd realized that Amy was cheating on him.

"What the hell are they thinking getting James involved again! I don't trust that son of a bitch at all!"

He sat down on a bench outside Tom's room and tried taking some deep breaths to calm down.

"Matty?"

"What?" Matt didn't want to deal with people right then.

"Are you mad at me?" Jeff asked, sitting down beside his brother and laying his head on Matt's shoulder.

"Jeffro, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself."

"Why?" Jeff looked puzzled.

"I saw this coming a mile away and I didn't do a fuckin' thing to stop it." Matt groaned

"How could you know?"

"How could I know? How could I not know!!!" Matt shouted, then remembered where he was. "Jeffro, I've been cleaning up your messes since we were kids. The second you told me what had happened between you and Tom, I knew exactly where this was going to go!"

"But why are you so mad?" Jeff couldn't figure out why Matt was being such a butthead over James coming back into the picture. "Imma hurt too and if James..."

"Let me spell it out for you, little brother. I don't trust James one bit." Matt banged his head off the wall. "I never have and I never will."

"So what Imma gonna do?" Jeff sighed

"Maybe this time you can clean up your mess all by yourself." Matt answered "Whatever you decide to do, I will stand behind it, but I don't wanna take the fall again. I'm in enough shit already. I gotta feelin' that Mark thinks I am gonna go something regrettable with James."

"Well, are ya?" Jeff finally took his head from Matt's shoulder.

"What would you do?"

"Matty, let Marky handle James, please. I don't wanna see you get hurt too." Jeff replied "Please?"

"Jeffro, don't..."

"Pretty please with Skittles on top. For me?"

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything Jeffers."

"Yay! I love you Matty." Jeff kissed him on the cheek, then bounded back inside.

Matt shook his head. This was going to be a disaster. He just knew it.

…..

"Have you made up your mind yet?"

"No."

"How bout now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Dad—"

"Cooper shut up and let Raul get us to the fucking hospital!"

Cooper sighed and leaned back in his seat. They were off the plane and almost at the hospital now. Raul was driving the rented car and Connor was blissfully playing with Snoopy, completely unaware of the argument that was taken place between Cooper and James.

"Dad come on," Cooper said impatiently. "We're almost there. Tell me what you decided to do."

"You'll know when I know kid," James replied.

Cooper groaned as Raul pulled into the hospital parking lot. This was a bad idea. If James didn't even know what he was going to do, they were all in some serious fucking trouble. _Disaster here we come_.


	15. Compromise

Matt anxiously paced the corridor outside Tom's room, awaiting the arrival of James. He tried to get the nervousness out of his systems, telling himself that there was no way James was going to do anything stupid here, but then another part of his psyche would interrupt and remind Matt that James had already done something stupid in a crowded location. Mark was also nervous, but he didn't let it show. He merely rested against the wall, repeatedly flipping open and closing his phone. His mind went a mile a minute, wondering how James would try to turn this into a win-win situation for himself personally and this is what concerned Mark.

The only card they had left to play was the "if you're gonna be an asshole, then get the fuck outta here because we don't really need you" card.

Jeff was bouncing off the walls, having snuck out and purchased a stash of Skittles and Pixie Stix. His energy level wasn't suiting well with the other two.

"Can you sit still, please Jeffro?" Matt pleaded.

"How about you both sit down?" Mark interrupted, "Your constant movement is driving me batty."

The look he sent in their direction was deadly.

"Well, excu-u-use me for giving a shit about my brother!" Matt yelled

"Watch your mouth, Hardy," Mark retorted. "I ain't fuckin' around right now."

"Neither am I." Matt abruptly stood up and stuck his face right in Mark's. "The only reason you care is because you wanna absolve yourself of some of the guilt since this most of this is all your fault."

"Matty..." Jeff warned

"Back off, little bro." Matt pushed Jeff away when he tried to step between them. "I'm pissed off at all the self-righteousness that Mark is hiding behind."

Mark glared at Matt, reflexively clenching and unclenching his fists rapidly.

"You gonna fuckin' hit me?" Matt saw the hand movements. "Go right fuckin' ahead. Have my blood on your hands as well as Tom's."

Mark flinched.

"That's right. Jeff may have screwed up with getting with James, but if you had been man enough to admit that you were jealous, or hell, even had any feelings whatsoever, my brother wouldn't be lying in that room right now!"

Mark had enough. He grabbed Matt by the throat and pushed him up against the wall.

"Don't you think I fuckin' know that?" he growled. "I've admitted that I fucked up, but can't you see that I am trying to at least atone for it? You want me to spell it out for you? I will. I love Tom. This was supposed to be just to piss off James, but did you stop to consider that maybe there's something deeper than simple jealousy?"

Matt was struggling just to breathe, so all he could utter was a croaking noise.

"If this were only about making James jealous, I would've been back in his arms the second he attacked Tom because that tells me that he was even more jealous of my relationship than I was of his!"

"Marky, can you please not hurt Matty any more?" Jeff whispered

Mark looked up at Matt's face which was turning a pleasant shade of purple. "Fuck!" He let go; Matt dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.

Jeff ran over to pick his brother up, both of them looking at Mark with expressions that ranged from anger to disgust and all points in between.

"You okay, Matty?" Jeff whispered. "Did Mark hurt you?"

Matt panted, his face eventually returning to its normal color. "I'm okay, Jeffro."

"I'm sure Marky didn't mean it." Jeff looked over at Mark. "Right?"

Mark pounded the walls. He hadn't meant to hurt Matt, but his emotions had been on a roller coaster since this whole thing started. "Fuck!" he repeated.

"I know he didn't. But it's nice to know that somewhere in there is a human being."

Fearful that Matt was going to do something else rash, Jeff stepped between them when Matt stepped toward Mark, who had leaned against the wall, then slid down it.

"It's okay Jeff. Really." Matt stepped around his brother and knelt by Mark. Jeff looked on warily as Matt hugged him, expecting Matt to go flying across the hall. To his shock, Mark collapsed into Matt's arms, exactly like the scene in the waiting room, only the positions were in reverse.

"Imma get some air." Jeff skipped down the stairs and outside.

...

"Hey, there's Jeff!" Cooper shouted.

"Well whaddaya know, Twinky Dink!" James exclaimed.

"Now?" Cooper whispered

"Shut up," James growled, anxiously waiting for Raul to park the damn car. "Keep an eye on Connor and that dog of his and let me do what I gotta do."

Cooper shrugged. "Connor, wanna take Snoopy for a walk?"

Snoopy licked Connor's nose, causing him to giggle. "Snoopy'd like that."

"Kids," James groaned, stepping out of the car and stretching his legs for the first time in what seemed like ages.

"Hey." Jeff came over, overly hyped up. "That was fast."

"Whatever. Let's get this over with."

"Imma glad you decided to be nice." Jeff was bubbling with either excitement, happiness, or a sugar high. James decided it was probably a combination with heavy doses of the third option.

_I __must__ be losing my touch. Did that twink just call me nice??? Fuck, maybe I shoulda slit my own throat as well!_

James allowed the twink to take him by the hand, and followed him up the stairs. Jeff was rambling about something, but James was paying no attention whatsoever. He was still trying to decide whether he should a: help Tom giving blood or b: help himself by finishing what he started ringside or c: just grab the twink and fuck right off somewhere. Before he could make a decision, he realized that he was on the floor and being stared down by both Mark and Matt. His mind kept flashing back to the chair shots Matt had given Mark, and how that had caused him to want to hurt Matt real bad.

"We should go get the doctor," Jeff said. He was either ignoring or completely oblivious to the looks Matt and James were exchanging. "He needs to know James is here."

"Jeff get out of the way," Matt said. His body was shaking and his eyes refused to leave James.

"Why?" Jeff asked.

Mark grabbed Matt by the back of the shirt and held on tightly. "No, you are not doing what I think you want to do. I told you to let me handle this."

James tilted his head to the side. Matt wanted to come after him. That was just too funny. "Let him go Marky. I could use a good fight."

"Wait a minute!" Jeff said, finally actually getting where all of this was going. "You guys can't fight! We hasta save Tommy!"

"Who said I even wanted to do that?" James blurted out without even thinking about it.

Mark stared at James in shock. "You son of a bitch! You said—"

"I said I would come back," James interrupted. "I didn't exactly agree to anything else."

Matt growled. Before Mark could retighten his grip, Matt was lose and spearing James down to the ground. James rolled his the momentum and managed to get on top. "You know Hardy, you probably should have thought that out more carefully," he informed Matt. He grabbed the smaller man by the neck with one hand and easily tossed him head first into the wall.

"Matty!" Jeff cried out.

"James knock it off!" Mark ordered.

"He started it!" James pointed out, glaring at Matt, who was trying to get back up to his feet.

"I don't care! If you don't knock it off, I'm going to be the one that finishes it!"

James glared at Mark defiantly before kicking Matt back down as hard as he could.

Mark's face went through several colors before settling on red. Without even saying anything, he grabbed James by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into an empty room. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asked as he shut the door behind them. "Have you lost your damn mind? I brought you back here to help Tom, not fucking brawl with Matt!"

"Well why should I help?" James asked. He folded his arms over his chest. "You said we could work something out if I came back, but if Tom lives, it could work out with you leaving me for that asshole for good! Why would I want that?"

"I don't know. Why would you fuck Jeff when I didn't want you to?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because you made me feel bad, you asshole!" James picked up a bedpan and chucked it at Mark's head. "If you had just admitted you were jealous in the first place instead of telling me I'm not worth getting jealous over, we might not be in this situation right now!"

"Or you could have ignored the shit I blurted out because I was mad and then that would have saved everyone a whole lot of time and trouble!" Mark snapped back. He grabbed the bedpan that James had thrown and whacked the killer on the head with it. "What do you think of that?"

James snarled and lunged at Mark. Within two seconds, there were fists flying in every direction. This wasn't exactly going the way James had planned, but he wasn't one to back down from a fight. "Mother fucker!" Mark growled as James grabbed his legs and took him down to the ground.

"Ew don't even talk like that," James said. "My mother was gross." He went to put his hands around Mark's throat but the Phenom got his feet up and kicked James in the chest really hard. "Fuck!" he shouted, stumbling backwards.

Mark got to his feet and shoved James up against the wall. "Stop being difficult!" he growled. He tried to pin James's hands down, which wasn't easy to do because James wasn't trying to keep still. "Would you just do something decent for once in your life?"

"I don't wanna!" James complained. He was trying to ignore how close Mark currently was. "You can't make me!"

"James, you're either doing this willingly, or I knock you unconscious and we do it then. What's it going to be?" Mark wasn't fucking around with him. He really would go through with that if he had to.

James wanted to say something nasty before knocking Mark on his ass. That would show the bastard. But his body had different ideas. On pure impulse he kissed Mark as hard as he could. To his surprise and pleasure, Mark didn't push him away. In fact, Mark just pushed him up against the harder and kissed him back even more roughly.

"Fuck Lawson, you're so fucking impossible," Mark said between kisses.

James grinned and bit at Mark's neck, drawing just a little bit of blood when his teeth scraped the sensitive flesh there. "And you're an asshole, but that's just how life is."

"Mark! James! Please don't fight! We need to—oh!"

James and Mark looked over. Jeff had let himself into the room and caught them kissing. James laughed as the twink turned red and quickly left the room. "He acts like he saw something bad," he said in amusement.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Lawson…"

James tilted his head to the side. He just had another idea, and this one was a pretty good one. "If I give Tom my blood, what exactly would you be willing to give me?" he asked.

Mark sighed. "Name it."

James grinned. Yeah he did feel jealous that Mark was willing to say that for Tom's sake, but he knew how he could try to use that to his advantage. "You," he said. "Give me you tonight and let's see what plays out."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "See what plays out? What are you planning?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Just tell me: do you want to do it or not?"

Mark nodded. "Okay," he said. "Whatever you want."

James grinned. The thought of having Mark alone with him later was enough to make him almost forget the self disgust he felt for agreeing to save a life. _Oh well, I'll just kill someone afterwards and then just forget the whole saving thing ever happened. Besides, if I can use tonight to get Mark to want to be with me again, it'll be worth it._

….

Jeff's face was still slightly tinged with red when he exited the room. So was Matt's, but that was because he was wiping blood from his nose.

"Son of a bitch!" Matt roared. "Where is he? I'm not fuckin' finished with him!"

"Matty, before you end up in a bed like Tommy, would you just please stop it?"

Matt stared down his younger brother.

"Pwwwwease Matt?"

"Okay, I'll be good. But if James gets outta line again..."

"Marky's taking care of that. Don't worry." Jeff giggled when the memory of what he'd seen flashed back to him.

"I'm sure he is."

Both heads turned when they heard the click of a door opening. Mark and James walked out, James glaring at Matt briefly before entering Tom's room. Matt moved to follow, but Jeff blocked the door.

"Matty, no!" he scolded him. "We can't let James change his mind."

"But Jeff, I just..."

"No!" Jeff replied, grabbing Matt's arm and leading him away.

"Where are you taking me?" Matt demanded

"I'm outta Skittles," Jeff announced "And since you acted so badly, you're gonna buy them."

"Jeff, I hate Skittles!" Matt complained.

"Then more for me."

Dr. Ross was scribbling on Tom's chart when the two big men entered the room.

"Oh boy," he muttered

"Gotta fuckin' problem, Doc?" James glowered.

"Shut up James. Remember our deal." Mark growled.

James groaned, raising his eyes to the skies in a "why me?" gesture. "Let's get this fuckin' thing over with."

"This way, sir." Ross escorted James into the corner room where the preliminary work would be done.

This left Mark alone with Tom, something he exactly wasn't counting on.

Tom was conscious; though he stared at Mark through eyes that were anything but clear.

"Don't worry, we're gonna fix you up real soon." Mark gently ruffled Tom's hair.

"H-H-how?" Tom gasped

"We found someone with the same blood type," Mark replied

Tom's eyes widened. "James, no..."

"Listen." Mark put his lips close to Tom's ear. "I know he hurt you..."

Tom's eyes widened even more. "What? I saw..."

"I know. Mother fucker stole my ring gear. Anyway, he's got your blood type and he's willing to help." _Yeah, and all I have to do is give up my ass for a night!_

Tom weakly shook his head in defiance. "I'd rather..."

"Don't you fuckin' finish that sentence, Hardy. This isn't just about your ego. Jeff has been crying almost non-stop since you got attacked. Matt damn near killed himself going after James and hell, even the evil Undertaker been cryin'like a damn baby over this." Mark half-laughed, hoping it would lift Tom's spirit.

"Jeff?" Tom moaned.

"Yeah... Jeff still loves you. He wants you back." Mark leaned his elbows on the metal bed frame and stared into Tom's expression of mild disbelief.

"Does?"

"Yeah, man." Mark answered "The kid is apeshit over ya, and I can see why. You got a bit of a temper, but from short time we were together, I'd say he's lucky as hell to have you. Don't ask me why he does some of the shit he does, but if I were you, I'd be on my knees..."

Tom frowned.

"I didn't mean that. Although you are pretty good!" Mark chuckled. "Trust me, things are gonna work out." If they don't, I'm gonna fuckin' kill James!

Tom finally smiled.

"I'm gonna see where those two idiot brothers of yours are. I'd rather stay with James in case he acts like himself and I'm pretty sure you're sick of staring at the ceiling tiles."

Matt and Jeff were coming toward Mark, Jeff's hands full of Skittles, when he stepped out.

"Everything okay, Deadman?" Matt asked

"If you stop attacking people in corridors, yeah." Mark looked curiously at Matt, still trying to comprehend why Matt, normally the most rational of all the Hardys, would act that rashly.

"Fuck you, Mark."

"Whatever. Stay with Tom. I'm gonna check on James." Mark strode down the hall. He paused at the door, wondering if he was gonna have to clean up another one of James' tantrums. To his surprise, the only visible blood was the unit being drawn from James' left arm.

"How's the patient?"

"Remarkably cooperative," Ross answered "But there is one small problem. We need a lot more than I am comfortable with drawing at one time."

"Doc, I told ya take what ya need," James growled.

"How much?" Mark asked

"Three units minimum." Ross replied

"Can you do it?"

"Of course. He'd have to stay here for a couple days afterward."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Mark said "Do it."

Sighing loudly, the doctor got two bags ready for the additional donations. "I hope you two know what you're doing."

"Don't worry." Mark smiled "I do."

James rolled his eyes. "I'm supposing there's going to be a "no sex" rule during my couple day stay here, isn't there?"

Ross raised his eyebrows. "Why would you even need to ask that question?"

"Shit shit mother fucker!"

Mark laughed. "Don't worry James, you can have my ass once you're out of here."

"You're god damn right I will."


	16. Forgive but Never Forget

James was more relieved than he let on when he was let out of the hospital. No, it was not because he was happy that the transfusion was successful and Tom was going to be okay (although that did make him going against his nature not a waste of time) but it was because he hated the damn thing with a fiery passion. After watching Annabelle die in a hospital, the places had a permanent bad taste in his mouth now. He knew the boys felt the same way but despite that, they did stay near him as often as they could. They did go back to their place and then to his to check to see if it had been searched or anything. Neither place had, and James was beginning to wonder if the WWE was actually planning on doing anything about what took place on Smackdown. Mark had mentioned in the past that the Hardys had not exactly been Vince's favorite people in the world and having met members of the McMahon family once or twice in person, James wouldn't have been a bit surprised if they actually got a kick out of the whole thing.

"Glad to be going home?" Mark asked as they exited the hospital. The boys were at the pet store buying toys for Snoopy and then they were going back to their own place so James and Mark could have some alone time.

James nodded. "I fucking hate hospitals." He walked over to his motorcycle and looked over it carefully. Raul had been the one to bring it over and he had to make sure the fucker hadn't damaged it in any way.

"Its fine," Mark assured him. "I checked it over when he got here."

James reluctantly stopped looking the bike over. He didn't want Mark to think that he hadn't done a good enough job checking for damage. A few hours ago, before Connor dragged Cooper to the pet store, Cooper had talked to James and officially lit a fire under the psycho's ass.

_"What exactly are you planning to do when you get Mark alone?" Cooper asked, watching James eat the ice cream Jeff had brought him._

_James raised his eyebrows. "Do you really need to ask that question? Isn't it obvious what I plan to do?"_

_Cooper sighed and shook his head. "Dad come on, is just sex going to fix anything?"_

_"Sure it will. I'm horny as fuck and sex will solve that problem."_

_"I was actually trying to talk about the long term problems you and Mark have been having. There was a time where he wouldn't have looked at anyone else but you. But now he's actually having real feelings for Tom. If you want to keep him, you need to stop the bullshit."_

_James raised his eyebrows. "Since when do I do bullshit?"_

_Cooper rolled his eyes. "Dad come on. You always do stuff just to piss him off. It's time to knock that off and show him what he actually means to you, or you're losing him for good, even if he doesn't end up with Tom."_

James sighed and got on his bike. He wished that Cooper's words would be easier to ignore, but they weren't. They were the truth. His original plan to just fuck Mark senseless wouldn't really solve shit for the long run. It could fix things for the night, but after that they would go right back to arguing. If he was going to get things back to the way they used to be, he needed to take Cooper's advice seriously.

He and Mark didn't even bother trying to talk to each other on the drive home. Once they were at the house though, Mark's eyes immediately went to the stairs. "Well?" the Deadman said expectedly.

James intentionally ignored him and went to the living room. He plopped down on the couch and stared at the television, which was off. Just as he was putting his feet up on the coffee table, Mark followed him in. "Okay, we're doing it in here then?" Mark said in amusement.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" James asked out of the blue.

Mark frowned and sat down next to James. "Yeah," he said. "We were five and it was the first day of school. I just moved into the neighborhood and didn't know anybody. I saw you pushing that one nerdy Asian kid off a swing and apparently it was fucking hilarious at the time because I just about pissed myself laughing."

James chuckled. He still thought it was pretty funny. "And when Annabelle yelled at me, I looked over and saw you standing there laughing. So I went over to you because you looked like fun."

"You asked me if I've ever killed a squirrel before. I said no and then you said you would do it for me. You were a strange little fucker."

"Oh yeah? For show and tell, you brought someone's ashes that you swiped from your dad's morgue. Now that was pretty fucking weird."

"At least I didn't take those ashes and throw them at some poor little girl who took my blue crayon. I was never that bad."

"Hey, you punched the teacher for trying to make you take a nap. I never did that." James was actually enjoying the trip down memory lane. "Do you remember the first time you came over to my house?"

Mark shuddered. "I saw your dad without a shirt and it scarred me for life. And then your mother hit me for looking at her funny."

"We also set Jacob's pants on fire while he was wearing them and Caroline and Joseph had to take him to the hospital." James started to laugh at that but then remembered that got him and Mark a grade A ass kicking when Caroline figured out who did it. "My mother might have hated you just as much as she hated me and that's saying something."

"It is," Mark agreed. "Remember the night you killed her?"

James nodded. "That was one of the happiest nights of my life."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "You don't consider that to actually be the best night of your life?"

"No."

"Well what is then? I mean, you hated Caroline more than anyone else on the planet. What the hell could top the night you finally got rid of her?"

James shrugged. He suddenly realized he had backed himself into a corner by being honest. "It's...I can't say it."

"Why?"

"You're going to hit me for being mushy."

"I will not."

"You will too. I would hit me for being mushy if I were you."

"If you were me, the entire WWE would have been dead by now. So just tell me what it is."

James sighed. Oh screw it, what was it going to hurt telling the truth? It might even work, and if it didn't, he doubted Mark would say anything to anyone else about it. "Uh....well we were sixteen when it happened. And we were alone at my house and I woke you up by pouring water on you so you chased me around the house-"

"And then we got a fistfight and then we ended up going back upstairs to fuck on your bed," Mark finished. He actually looked amused by James's confession. "The first time we fucked was the best night of your life?"

"Mark, I swear, if you start laughing, I'm gonna kill ya."

"I'm not gonna laugh," Mark promised. He pushed James's head playfully. "I'm just kinda surprised you're getting all talky here. I thought for sure you would be taking advantage of the fact that you're supposed to have me at your mercy tonight."

James folded his arms over his chest. "What would be the point? It won't change anything."

Mark sighed. "James-"

"Cooper talked to me about this earlier," James said, not even really hearing Mark say his name. "Basically the message was that sex wasn't going to fix a damn thing. And he's right. It won't. Hell, it made this whole mess worse. I want to say I'm sorry for fucking Jeff but I don't think I'm actually capable of that. I just want this fucking mess to go the hell away so we can go back to the way things used to be but I don't even know if that's possible, which just makes me want to kill someone else-"

"James-"

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't say that but honestly Mark, I'm trying to do it out of love and-"

Mark finally just shut James up with a kiss. James's eyes widened in surprise but he happily kissed Mark back. "Jesus Lawson, since when do you babble like that?" Mark asked when they broke apart to breathe.

James shook his head. "I have no idea."

Mark chuckled but then got serious. "You seriously want to say you're sorry?"

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever done it before."

"Dude, you haven't even wanted to apologize for anything before. I think the want itself is an actual miracle."

James grinned. That was true. "Come on," he said. He got off the couch and pulled Mark to his feet. "Let's go upstairs."

"Wait, we usually fight our way upstairs," Mark pointed out.

"Uh huh. I'm aware of that."

"So why aren't we doing that right now? Are you still going to take advantage of the fact that I promised to do anything to get you to help Tom?"

"No. You're the only one that's going to be taking any kind of advantage tonight."

Mark stopped in his tracks. "Wait a second," he said, turning James around. "Are you...you can't...are you offering to bottom right now?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it an offer. It's just what's gonna happen."

"But you don't like bottoming without a fight."

"I also don't like the thought of losing you. Scary ass possibilities tend to straighten out my priorities." James pulled Mark into the bedroom. He started to say something else, but he forgot it completely when Mark suddenly pushed him up against the wall and kissed him harder than before. He grinned and wrapped his arms around his Deadman, pulling him so close that he could feel his heart beating against his.

"You are still one strange fucker," Mark said, each word being separated by more kisses. "I hope you know that."

"How the hell could I forget?" James replied. He grinned as Mark's hands started working on getting their belts off. "Need any help with that?" he asked when nothing came off fast enough.

"Fucking thing!" Mark growled. He took a small step back and pretty much ripped James's belt away. "Did you have to buy one that was so fucking difficult?"

"Sorry Marky," James said. "I'll just stop wearing one all together."

"No, cuz I don't want your pants falling down and tempting someone into trying to do something," Mark said. "Cuz then I'll have to kill them."

James laughed and let Mark push him down on the bed. Clothes began flying off their bodies and ended up on the floor. James was amused by the way Mark growled a little bit and pinned his hands down above his head. "You don't actually have to do that this time," he pointed out.

"I want to though," Mark replied. "Do you have any idea how hot you look pinned down like that?"

"Maybe you should take a picture of it."

Mark began making a move to go find a camera.

"I didn't mean now!" James said. He forced Mark back down on top of him. "Jesus Christ on a stick, would you just fuck me already?"

Mark grinned. "A little impatient aren't we?"

"Well fucking hell Marky, my patience level for this is not that high to begin with."

Mark chuckled and pushed himself right into James without another word. James let out a yell and immediately clawed the fuck out of Mark's back. "You damn undead bastard! Damn you to fucking hell!"

Mark groaned. "You wanted it!"

James was perfectly aware of that but it was kind of just reflex to scream obscenities at Mark while being fucked. Besides, it had been awhile since he had been the bottom and Mark wasn't exactly the most gentle when they were together. "I know you damn bastard. I'm perfectly fucking aware of what I asked for."

"Dude watch your fucking language."

"Oh don't tell me to watch my fucking language. You cuss more than I do when you're in this position." James moved his head up and kissed Mark brutally. "Now who the fuck said you could stay still?"

Mark grinned and twisted James's wrist painfully while he began moving inside of him. James kept attacking Mark's lips, kissing and biting at them so hard that he was drawing blood. He ran his tongue over the coppery liquid, getting more hisses of pain from Mark. "Fucking psycho," Mark grunted as he bit James back.

"You love it though," James pointed out with a grin. He tried to free his wrists from Mark's grip, but was immediately distracted by an uncontrollable wave of pleasure going through him. "Oh fucking hell Marky!" he nearly yelled as he closed his eyes.

"Okay ow, I am now deaf," Mark complained. But apparently that didn't bother him nearly enough because he began attacking James's neck. James tried to return the favor but he was so far gone by that point that his mouth didn't even reach Mark's neck. It did open and close a few times, but nothing remotely coherent came out of it. There might have been a scream, or maybe that was Mark. He honestly didn't know. What he did know was that he managed to reopen his eyes, but then they rolled right into the back of his head when he felt Mark stroking him. He let out a yell and everything went all white and shit.

When James could get his eyes back to functioning properly, Mark was laying next to him and had his head resting in the crook of his neck. "Fucking hell Marky," he panted, wiping away a trail of blood that was on his neck.

Mark just nodded. "Yeah, that pretty much sums that up."

James grinned and played with Mark's hair. "Marky?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." James kind of just blurted that out before he could change his mind.

Mark grinned. "I love you too you psycho."

James grinned back at him. That had worked out nicely. Now he just had to wait and see if that love could overcome whatever feelings Mark had for Tom. _Twinky Dink better work his charms to get Tom to want him back, cuz I'm not letting Mark go without a fight._

...

"Well, Mr. Hardy, how do you feel?" Ross stopped in on his morning rounds.

"A little more psychotic than usual. Are you sure that blood didn't do something?" Tom responded with his usual gusto.

"Positive," Ross answered "We're gonna send you home today."

"Yay! Tommy's comin' home." Jeff hadn't left Tom's bedside since Mark had driven him to the hospital, except for Skittle and potty breaks.

"But... and listen to me carefully." Ross adopted his stern adult voice. "You are still at risk. If you feel any pain, or notice any discoloration at the site at any point over the next two weeks, get your ass back here immediately. There is always a danger of infection with a surgery like this."

"Yes sir."

"Do you have someone living with you?" Ross asked "Someone who can watch out for you?"

"No, I live alone right now," Tom answered.

Jeff's face drooped.

"Tommy?" he whispered

"What?" Tom turned his head carefully.

"I thought maybe I could, y'know, come home?"

"I"ll be back with your release papers." The doctor excused himself from what was obviously a personal moment.

Tom sighed. Even after all that had happened, he had his reservations.

"Jeff, what's to stop this from happening the next time we have a fight?" he asked

Jeff's lip trembled. "I dunno."

"I guess there's only one thing to do then." Tom looked straight into his husband's eyes.

"What's that?" Jeff looked down. If Tom didn't want to be with him, and James and Mark had made up, then maybe he was going back to Cameron. Maybe Matt would take him in until he found a permanent place to live.

"I guess we have to promise to never fight again." Tom stated "Not as easy as it sounds, eh?"

Jeff blinked twice. Had he heard Tom right? "Tommy, what are you saying?"

"Jeffro, I've missed you. Lizard has missed you. I want you back in my arms. I..." The rest of his words were lost when Tom broke down.

Careful not to touch the sutures on his neck, Jeff crawled onto the bed and hugged him, tears also flowing freely. "Imma want you back too."

They hugged tightly.

"Just promise me one thing. Next time you feel the urge to get a handjob, make sure the giver is me, okay?" Tom laughed through his tears. "It'll save us a lotta trouble."

"Imma promise," Jeff planted a wet kiss on his husband's cheek. "And I guess you want this back?" He placed a small round object on Tom's hand.

Tom stared at it and carefully placed it on his finger. "Y'know, now I don't feel so naked!"

"Mmm! Naked is good!" Jeff giggled, curling up to Tom and gently stroking is cheek.

"Not here, Jeff, okay?" Tom hadn't had any since before the accident, but unlike some people, doing it in the hospital was not gonna happen.

"Okay." Jeff tickled Tom's chin, getting a childlike giggle out of him. This soon turned into a round of very passionate wet kissing and, despite what Tom had just said, their hands were soon searching for more intimate areas to caress.

They stopped suddenly when the door opened and Dr. Ross reentered. "Well, you've been discharged, Mr. Hardy. Just sign here."

Tom scrawled his signature. Ross shook his head and left. Tom and Jeff stared at each other, then started to laugh.

"Thank God he didn't say anything about no sex." Tom gingerly got out of bed and grabbed his clothes.

"Oh, by the way, no sex for two days." Ross stuck his head back through the door.

Jeff and Tom looked at each other.

"Sorry," Ross apologized, closing the door again.

"Fuck!" Jeff groaned

"Doc just said we couldn't," Tom responded "But I'm sure we'll find plenty of other things to do. Now let's get the hell outta here... there are too many sick people around."

Hand in hand, they left the hospital to return to their home and hopefully put all the bullshit behind them. There was only one other matter to be resolved, but a lot more physical healing first had to occur before they were ready to finally put their relationships with Mark and James behind them.


	17. Resolutions

"Wouldn't it have been easier for you to take YOUR car over here, pick up YOUR stuff, then drive home on YOUR own?"

The first order of business once Tom had rested after his hospital stay was to go to James' house, but why his husband couldn't do it himself was a mystery. Tom wanted nothing to do with neither Mark nor James until he had totally recovered, both mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Jeff had his Bunny, the rest could wait; at least that was Tom's opinion.

"Tommy, the sooner we get this over and done with, the quicker you and I can get on with our lives." Jeff rested his head on his shoulder.

The last two days had been heaven for Jeff. Tom was a little less enthralled with it. Jeff seemed to take what the doctor said a little too literally and wouldn't let Tom out of his sight for a minute, bringing cold cloths, medicated creams, and soothing lotions every time he grimaced.

Pulling up the driveway, Tom looked at the place. "At least you had the sense to fuck around on me with a guy who has money!"

Jeff wasn't sure how to take that until Tom laughed.

"I see they have company. Maybe we should come back later."

"Nah... that's just Connor and Cooper. They're cool." Jeff was already getting out of the car.

The boys were playing with Snoopy, or more precisely Connor was playing with Snoopy while Cooper kept a semi-interested gaze upon them. Snoopy was the first to spot the visitors and ran over to Jeff, barking happily.

"Hiya, boy." Jeff bent down to let the dog lick his face.

"Hi Jeff..." Connor ran over. "oh." He'd seen Tom.

"I don't want any trouble. We're just here to pick up Jeff's shit and then we'll be outta your lives." Tom hadn't officially met James' and Mark's 'sons', but now that he had, he wanted to make the acquaintance as brief as possible.

"Hang on." Cooper had also walked over and now he turned toward the house. "Daddy, Marky, get your asses out here!"

Tom looked at Jeff, a little surprised by the words. Jeff shrugged it off.

"Imma do the talking," Jeff whispered.

"Fine with me," Tom replied.

James and Mark finally showed up. Tom sniggered, elbowing Jeff in the ribs when he saw how gingerly they were both walking.

"Hey, Twinky Dink! What the fuck you doin' here?" James bellowed.

"Just came to get my stuff!" Jeff answered.

"Hello James," Tom said.

James looked up. In his excitement over seeing Jeff, he hadn't noticed Tom leaning against the hood of his Viper.

Mark defensively stepped in front of James. "Remember what we said," he said in a low growl.

"Don't fuckin' tell me, I'll fuckin' tell you." That's what it sounded like to Tom, but he was more focused on James' movements. He still didn't trust the fucker one iota and having to meet here didn't help any.

"Grab yer shit and let's get gone,." Tom said "I gotta fly out later."

"I'll go with ya," James quickly volunteered. Both Mark and Tom glared at him.

"Imma be back in a minute." Jeff skipped into the house. Mark and Tom just stared at each other.

"Flyin' out tonight?" Mark asked, surprised. "I'm surprised you've been cleared."

"I haven't," Tom replied "I'll be working behind the scenes for a while... someone's gotta bring in some cash."

Mark nodded.

"I prolly should tell James that he'll be supporting us for a bit." Mark scraped his boot against an anthill, destroying it. Watching the little ants scurry around disoriented made him feel a little bit better.

"Do you want me to talk to JR for ya?" Tom lightly scratched under the bandana he wore around his neck.

Mark cocked his head. "Why would you do somethin' crazy like that?" he asked.

"C'mon Mark, it'll draw and you know it," Tom said "We have some kind of chemistry when you're not trying to hurt me, that is."

Was Mark actually smiling? Kid's fuckin' right about that!

"You don't hafta do that shit... mebbe I should retire?" Mark replied.

"Without even fuckin' sayin' goodbye to the fans? I doubt it, even though most of them think you sliced me. Hell, I thought you sliced me until I heard..." His voice faded. "Anyway, do you want me to talk to Jim Ross or give you the honor of begging? I hear you're pretty good at it."

Mark laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul." Tom also burst into laughter. "Now where the hell are those two?"

"Hopefully not fuckin' on my bed." Mark replied.

"They wouldn't dare!... would they?" Tom asked.

"Give em five minutes, then we'll go huntin'." Mark stared at his watch.

...

"So you and Tom are back together then?"

Jeff nodded. He and James were trying to get all of his stuff packed up as quickly as possible. He didn't want them to be alone for too long. The last thing he wanted Tom to do was worry that James was going to do something to him. That wouldn't be good for the healing that Tom was still trying to do. "Imma make sure that we make this work." He looked at the psycho. "So how are things between you and Mark?"

"Better than they've been in a long time," James admitted. He grinned in a way that wasn't actually totally psychotic. "Maybe I should have slit Tom's throat a little sooner. That actually worked out pretty well for everybody."

Jeff just glared at James.

James sighed. "Too soon?"

"It's never gonna be funny," Jeff informed him. "You coulda killed him."

"Yeah, so?"

"James!"

James rolled his eyes. "Come on Twinky, lighten up. Tom's alive and well and you've got him back and I've got Mark back."

"You could still act like you're sorry."

"Twinky, the only thing I'm sorry about is the fact that I pushed Mark away to the point where I almost didn't get him back."

"I think you should tell Tom you're sorry."

"And I think you should just drop the subject."

"Well too bad, you should say you're sorry."

"I'm not sorry."

"You should be."

"Why?"

"Cuz I said so."

James raised his eyebrows. "Do you really think that argument is going to get you anywhere with me?"

Jeff pouted his lips in a way that he knew Tommy and Matt couldn't resist. "Pweese?"

James shook his head. "Nope. That's my final answer to that."

Jeff sighed. He knew that had been a long shot, but he had thought that maybe he could have been the one to talk some sense in to James. "You're such an ass," he grumbled as he tried to finish getting all his stuff together.

"I'm not an ass," James said defensively. "I'm just not going to apologize when the apology would be a lie. Besides, judging from the way he was looking at me, your husband doesn't want to hear a damn thing that comes out of my mouth."

"Can you blame him? You tried to kill him!"

"I didn't say I blamed him." James tossed Jeff a couple pairs of jeans he had found. "You sure you're gonna be happy with him Twink?"

Jeff nodded. "I almost lost him when you attacked him," he said softly. "When we all thought he was going to die..." He had to stop and look away. He didn't want to talk about how awful it felt to think Tom was going to die.

James sighed. He looked rather uncomfortable with the conversation now. "I think this is the last of your stuff. We should get it downstairs so Marky and Tom don't think we're up to something."

Jeff bounded down the stairs, James clomping along behind him.

"Tommy, I'm ready to... where'd he go?" Jeff scanned the horizon.

"Beats the fuck outta me, Twinky," James said with a shrug. "I am not his father."

"Tommy?" Jeff shouted.

"Out back."

"Marky?" James hollered.

"Yeah?" Came the reply from the same area.

James and Jeff looked at each other and immediately had similar thoughts. Similar evil thoughts. They ran behind the house and stopped dead in their tracks.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Calaway?" James bellowed.

"Tommy!" Jeff pointed a finger at his husband. "What did the doctor tell you about that?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, all he said was no sex for two days. He said nothing about this," Tom protested.

"Yeah Lawson, get the fuck off my back too. After all, we were boyfriends."

"We'll you ain't no more, so this ain't workin' for me." James crossed his arms, a scowl returning to his face.

"We didn't say you couldn't join us," Tom grumbled. "Grab a couple beers and shut the fuck up."

"I likes beer," Jeff quickly helped himself to a bottle.

"Just you watch it. This is how all this shit started." Tom warned his husband.

Tom and Mark were sitting out back, each with a bottle of beer in their hands. A full cooler was nearby.

"You gonna stand there looking like you just fucked yer mom or you gonna have a beer with us?" Mark shouted

James growled, but helped himself to a beer.

"I got my stuff," Jeff said "We should go soon."

"In a minute. Mark and I were talking," Tom said.

"About what?" James wanted Tom and Jeff out of their lives post-haste and wasn't afraid to use a little uncivility to do it.

"This whole sorry mess we found ourselves in," Mark replied.

"Don't fuckin' blame me," James interjected.

"Everyone is to blame in this," Mark retorted. "So we figured that the only chance that we're not gonna be jumping at shadows is if we sit down like men and talk this out without resorting to juvenile name-calling or idle death threats."

"My death threats aren't idle!" James yelled.

"Shut up, mister poopy-pants!" Jeff crossed his arms.

"You were right Mark. One case might not be enough." Tom reached for another bottle.

"Both of ya shut ya faces before I crack this bottle over both o' ya heads!" Mark threatened.

"Now who's talking about idle threats?" James crossed his arms and smirked.

"Enough... Lawson, Hardy, park your asses this minute!" Tom yelled. "I knew this wasn't gonna be easy, but I didn't think both of you would be totally unreasonable... well, I sorta figured you would be," Tom pointed at James, who pointed back at Tom with his middle finger. "but you Jeff?"

"I am not being unreasonable."

"Whatever."

They stared at each other until the silence became unbearable.

"Fine... Hardy, I ain't sayin' I'm sorry for slittin' ya throat, but maybe I should thought about it a little more before I did it!" James blurted out.

Tom looked over at Mark. "Take it," The Deadman whispered. "It's as close as you're gonna get to an apology."

"Fair enough. Considering I have three bags of your blood coursin' through my veins, I'll consider us even. For now."

"For now? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" James demanded.

"It means you stay the fuck away from my husband and I'll forget that you tried to end my life," Tom replied.

"Fine with me."

"Good."

"Now was that so hard?" Mark asked James.

"Yes," James replied immediately. "Part of me just died a little inside."

Mark rolled his eyes. "You're such a fucking drama queen sometimes. Are you aware of that?"

"Uh huh. It's why you love me."

"Yeah right. I should smash this beer bottle over your head."

"Just promise to pull my hair when you do it and I'll be okay with that."

Tom shook his head as he took a drink of his beer. "Freak," he said under his breath.

"What did you just say?" James growled.

"He called you a freak," Mark said. "And I'm inclined to agree with him." He glared at Jeff, who was happily chugging his beer like there was no tomorrow. "You stop that," he ordered, taking the beer away from Jeff. "You don't need to get drunk again. That was how you contributed to this mess in the first place."

Jeff pouted. "Imma not get drunk. It just tasted good. And what do you mean my-"

"Jeff, sweetheart, do not ask how you getting drunk contributed to this mess," Tom interrupted quickly. "You drinking all of my beer got that fight started between us the night this shit all began."

"And you got even more drunk at that bar Twinky," James added. He seemed eager to get all shred of blame away from him and on to someone else. "Which lead to you nearly getting raped in that alley, which meant Mark and I had to save you and that got you all attached to me, which isn't really healthy for a twink like you."

Jeff sighed and folded his arms over his chest. "Okay okay! Stop it! I get the damn point. I should just stay home when I'm drunk."

"Well yeah, but you should also cut back on it," Mark told him. "The promises you make now mean nothing when you are hammered."

"Oh and you should act on your urges less," James added. "I mean I don't blame you for that because I am just that damn sexy, but-"

"Can you shut him up before I chuck this at his head?" Tom asked Mark, holding up his beer bottle.

"Do it and die Tommy boy," James nearly snarled.

"Boys!" Mark shouted angrily. "Knock it off this second!"

"But he started it!" Tom and James said at the same time, pointing to each other. They both glared at each other when they saw that they were being pointed at. Grumbling under their breaths, they glared at each other until they saw Mark looking like he was ready to kill the both of them. That made them look away from each other, although Tom could clearly be heard mumbling "psycho mother fucker" under his breath while James was mumbling "cocksucking asshole".

"Too bad you weren't a little nicer to me," Tom said, reaching for another beer, his fourth. "I mighta let your find out just how good a cocksucking asshole I am, but your loss."

Mark gagged, spraying beer all over himself.

"Just outta curiosity, would it have made a fuck o' difference if either Mark or I had told you that we were breakin' bedsprings right from the start?" Tom continued.

"Prolly not." James answered quickly. A little too quickly for Mark's taste.

"Bullshit Lawson! If you were Pinocchio, you're nose would be as long as your cock right now," Mark retorted.

Jeff giggled, earning him a stern look from Tom.

"Okay, maybe it woulda made a difference." James added "I prolly woulda gone after Matt instead."

Jeff's mouth dropped open. "No!" he shouted "Marky! Tell James he can't hurt Matty!"

"James..." Mark warned.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Twinky Dink. After today, I don't want anything to do with any of ya. I got my own kids to worry about."

"Speaking of which, where'd the little buggers get to?" Mark hadn't seen Cooper or Connor for since Tom and Jeff arrived and that worried him.

"Don't know. Don't care." Tom shrugged "Anyway, I think we've overstayed our welcome." Tom stood up, a little wobbly. "Jeff, you're driving."

"Yay!" Jeff danced away. It wasn't everyday that Tom let him drive his car.

Tom noticed smugly the way both Mark and James were staring at Jeff's ass "Remember that ass is all mine now," Tom said before chugging the rest of his beer.

"Strangest thing, though. The police asked me to look at the tapes of the attack to see if I could identify my attacker, but they couldn't find any of the tapes. I guess some things just weren't meant to be."

Mark looked at James, who looked back at Mark.

"Next time you see Matt, a simple "thank-you" will do." Tom went back out front, where Jeff was playing race car in the driveway.

"Vroom vroom. Hardy has the lead going into the last lap of the Indy 500. Coming around the turn..." He stopped when he saw Tom.

"Let's get the hell outta here."

"Yes, massah!" Jeff reversed out of the driveway, down the road, and into their future.

…..

"You definitely need to thank Matt," Mark told James as they finished their beers. "He doesn't even like you and he helped you out."

"Fucker probably did it cuz Tom told him to for your sake," James muttered. He had no idea if that was true or not but that was the theory he was going with.

"Either way—"

"I'll make you do it for me. You're better at it."

Mark sighed. "So once again I'm your errand boy? I thought we were changing things between us Lawson."

"We are. I'm just saying that I would royally screw up the thank you and probably somehow end up stabbing Matt instead."

"You—oh who am I kidding? Knowing you, that's what would happen." Mark shook his head and looked around. Out of the corner of his eye, he happened to see Connor and Cooper running around on the neighbor's roof. "James…"

"I know I know, I see them," James said. He shook his head. "Fucking little brats. Mr. and Mrs. White can deal with them. You and I have more important things to do at the moment."

"And what would these things be?" Mark asked with a grin.

"Each other," James replied happily.

Mark chuckled and let himself be pulled into the house. For better or worse, a twisted and warped future with James was definitely where he belonged.


End file.
